SANDAG approves regional habitat conservation funding - Agencies expect 76 mitigation funding

The San Diego Association of Governments board authorized up to $2 million for Fiscal Year 2007 transportation project mitigation funding expenditures, including up to $700,000 of funding expected from mitigation for the future State Route 76 widening.

The funding from the expected State Route 76 mitigation would cover $300,000 for gnatcatcher monitoring and $400,000 for monitoring of the return of plant and animal species following the 2003 wildfires. The remaining $1.3 million would fund $600,000 for invasive weed control and removal, $150,000 apiece for a program developer, management coordinator, and monitoring coordinator, $150,000 for updated vegetation mapping, $50,000 for a database system, and $50,000 for plant monitoring protocols.

“I’m glad to see that 76 is on this item,” said County Supervisor Bill Horn, who represents the unincorporated areas of the county on the SANDAG board.

The TransNet sales tax extension passed by the county’s voters in 2004 includes an environmental mitigation program to fund the mitigation of transportation projects. A program called the Regional Habitat Conservation Fund utilizes the economic benefits of early mitigation purchases, allowing mitigation land for future projects to be purchased at a lower cost.

US Fish and Wildlife Service assistant field supervisor Theresa O’Rourke notes that the Federal agency she represents has been working with SANDAG and the County of San Diego to identify appropriate mitigation for State Route 76. “The parcels that have been identified are fine with us,” she said.

Identifying parcels doesn’t guarantee Federal permits for the project. “The process is a long-term process,” O’Rourke said.

Identifying the mitigation up front, however, is expected to streamline the process. “This will feed right into it,” O’Rourke said. “We want to expedite this.”

The gnatcatcher monitoring funding will allow for a contract with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the post-fire monitoring will involve a contract with the US Geological Survey. Monitoring will be required in February, March, and April, so the field activity is time-sensitive. The authorization is subject to receipt of further written assurances from the wildlife agencies regarding the State Route 76 project, but O’Rourke encouraged SANDAG to approve the funding.

“We support the expenditure of the 700,000,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve already sent letters of support so the mitigation on the 76 can move forward.”

The post-fire monitoring investigates how animal communities and specific target species recover from and respond to massive fires and the resulting changes in vegetation communities, vegetation structure, and prey availability. The California gnatcatcher monitoring will be conducted countywide under a new protocol developed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Contract positions will provide for the program developer, the management coordinator, and the monitoring coordinator. The program developer will review other regional habitat preservation programs and structures, define the roles and functions of the staff of the regional coordinating entity, draft a mission statement and charter as well as any governing documents, draft a scope of work and structure for science advisors, identify complementary roles of Federal and state agencies and private conservation groups, and re-evaluate Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) implementation committees.

The management coordinator will establish or utilize an existing weed advisor group to help identify regional invasive weed threats, prioritize weed species which could threaten the preserve system, prioritize geographic areas for management, establish weed management control techniques, identify land managers for each preserve area by watershed, develop a process for technical managers to coordinate and advise land managers on cost-effective weed removal methods, work with an advisory group and land managers to develop a multi-year strategic weed removal plan including timeframes for periodic review, work with stakeholders to allocate funding for implementation, and oversee and manage contracts for fund distribution.

The issue of private non-profit land management groups created SANDAG discussion on assurances. “I don’t want to see this money wasted,” Horn said.

Horn noted that some non-profit trust groups have declared bankruptcy and care for the land reverts to the jurisdiction. In some cases that land has become an illegal junkyard.

“I realize there’s some good non-profits out there,” Horn said. “I want to make sure that there is a follow-up step in there.”

SANDAG general counsel Julie Wiley ensured that contractual programs will have milestones and deliverables, and the measure passed 18-0 with the City of San Marcos absent.

The monitoring coordinator contract position will coordinate the collection and analysis of data throughout the county, coordinate with the wildlife agencies on the preparation of triennial reports on monitoring efforts, coordinate with the wildlife agencies and conservation program subregions on technical matters including data collection and standardized field protocols and monitoring locations, coordinate and make recommendations for future grant proposals, work with the wildlife agencies and science advisors to develop training workshops for field data collection efforts, and coordinate biological monitoring efforts to track progress through geographic information systems and associated data bases.

Proposals will be solicited to update the vegetation mapping, which is more than ten years old in some areas and has estimated error rates of 35 to 45 percent. Tasks include establishing a technical working group to oversee the new mapping, working under California Department of Fish and Game supervision for aerial photography and interpretation along with GIS and field mapping and verification, and maintaining and updating the data base.

The Biogeographical Information and Observation System (BIOS) data management system will be updated to allow for on-line editing, expanded to allow for the on-line addition of data from regional stakeholders, and enhanced to allow for quality control of data edited on-line.

The plant monitoring protocol funds will complement a $116,000 grant received by the City of San Diego and will review rare plant monitoring data collected in 2006, prepare standardized protocols to monitor rare plants, and provide a monitoring and adaptive management workshop for jurisdictions and local stakeholders.

The environmental mitigation program guidelines call for an increase of funding from $1 million in Fiscal Year 2006 to $2 million in Fiscal Year 2007 to $4 million in Fiscal Year 2008 to $5 million in each subsequent year. A working group was established by SANDAG in May 2005; Carrie Downey of the Coronado City Council is the chair and County of San Diego MSCP program manager Tom Oberbauer is the vice-chair.