Regional Conservation Investment Strategy
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Approves First Regional Conservation Investment Strategy
In November 2019, the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the Santa Clara County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (SCCRCIS), the first such plan in California. The SCCRCIS promotes the conservation of sensitive species, habitats and other natural resources within Santa Clara County. The SCCRCIS includes goals and objectives for wildlife and habitat conservation, as well as actions and priorities which can guide investments in ecological resource conservation and potential opportunities for mitigation projects to offset impacts to species and other natural resources.
The Open Space Authority worked closely with a Steering Committee including representatives from The Nature Conservancy, Valley Transportation Authority, Valley Habitat Agency, State Coastal Conservancy, Conservation Strategy Group and others to develop the SCCRCIS.
Actions will benefit the conservation of focal species, habitats and other natural resources and they may be used as a basis to provide advance mitigation through the development of credits.
Examples of potential RCIS conservation and habitat enhancement actions include, but are not limited to:
- Land acquisition and protection
- Habitat creation & restoration
- Restoration of creeks and rivers
- Restoration of habitat on public land
- Installation of wildlife crossings and fish passage barrier removal
The development of RCISs does not create, modify or impose regulatory requirements or standards, regulate land use, establish land use designations or affect the land use authority of a public agency.
Mitigation Credit Agreements
Now approved, the SCCRCIS can inform voluntary conservation and enhancement actions for focal species, sensitive habitats, and other conservation elements, including habitat connectivity and working landscapes. The Open Space Authority will collaborate with California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and infrastructure agencies to assess the potential for implementing conservation or habitat actions identified in the SCCRCIS through mitigation credit agreements (MCAs).
MCAs are the crediting mechanism whereby habitat improvements or similar conservation actions identified in an approved RCIS and located within the boundary of the RCIS can be quantified and used to fulfill compensatory mitigation requirements established under state and federal environmental laws including the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Endangered Species Act and the Lake and Streambed Alteration Program. Any person or entity may enter into an MCA with CDFW to create credits, even if the person or entity was not involved in the development of the RCIS. Persons or entities may create, use, sell, or otherwise transfer mitigation credits upon CDFW’s finding that credits have been created in accordance with Program requirements.
Updated MCA Guidelines and a MCA Template were issued in June of 2023 by CDFW.