New Conservation Tools
A New Natural Resources Conservation Planning Tool
Now more than ever we need to invest conservation resources wisely. California’s population has tripled over the last half-century, to 40 million people, and it is expected to increase by another 5 million by 2050. Population growth and climate change threaten the state’s environmental infrastructure—its clean water, wetlands, wildlife habitat, parks, and forestlands.
To confront this challenge, we supported a coalition seeking to create in California Law a new, more nimble, conservation planning tool. AB 2087, which became law in 2016, introduced regional conservation investment strategies to give a formal imprimatur to voluntary, non-regulatory plans that set forth a shared conservation vision within a region. That shared vision allows for coordinated, strategic investments of public and private funding in science-driven conservation priorities.
Five years after the passage of AB 2087, six regional conservation investment strategies have been approved and an additional four are underway, covering over 11 million acres in California.
Our role in AB 2087 and the state regional conservation strategy program focused on two areas:-
Based on input from members of a supporting coalition and key stakeholders, we drafted a legislative proposal that achieved key legislative goals and addressed concerns from potential opponents.
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We worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, coalition members, and key stakeholders to provide technical assistance and advice to support the launch of the regional conservation investment strategy program, including the development of the first such strategies and related mitigation credit agreements that can be used to provide compensatory mitigation for project impacts through the implementation of conservation actions that help to achieve regional conservation priorities.
Photo Credit: Kirt Edblom, Flickr
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