Consensus Planning Consensus Planning

Successes & FailuresSuccesses & Failures

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Planning and Conservation League SymposiumHow to Find Common Ground

January 30, 2010

Carol W. Witham

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New partnershipsNew partnershipsa Central Valley success story

• CESHA grew out of a need to share resources and ideals, as well as the work of preserving species and habitat

• national, state and local environmental groups

• Quarterly meetings with the California/Nevada Operations Manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

• mutual gripe sessions

• A challenge to find one issue that the environmental organizations and the Service could work together on in a proactive way

• Service staff came up with 30 priority issues

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Dissatisfaction with the status quoDissatisfaction with the status quoConservation is hard work…

Difficult to recreate all functions

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Central Valley GrasslandsCentral Valley Grasslands an ecosystem in peril…

• Escalating urbanization of the Central Valley

• Vernal pool grasslands are being targeted for this growth.

• Most of these lands are in private ownership

• USFWS shared our white paper on Central Valley grasslands with leaders in the Cattlemen’s Association

• Development of The California Rangeland Resolution

• Keeping common species common on private lands

• Working to recover imperiled species and enhancing habitats

• Increase funding and assistance to expand beneficial stewardship

• Encourage voluntary and collaborative conservation

• Establishment of the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition and working groups to set short and long range goals to achieve Central Valley grassland conservation

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California Rangeland ResolutionCalifornia Rangeland ResolutionNew partnerships for habitat preservation…

• Two projects impacting thousands of acres of vernal pool grasslands

• University of California, Merced

• Originally planned to be a new town the size of Berkeley

• In the middle of the largest remaining tract of undisturbed vernal pool grassland

• Sunrise-Douglas Community Planning Area

• Over 6000 acres of vernal pool grasslands

• The “Yellowstone” of Sacramento County vernal pools

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Quid pro quo…Quid pro quo…CESHA asks for payback…

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History of the 10History of the 10thth UC campus UC campusand how it ended up in Merced

• 1988 UC Regents initiated planning for a new campus• Focused on the San Joaquin Valley

• 85 initial sites

• 20 candidate sites

• 8 preferred sites

• 3 finalist sites

• No one has been able to reproduce the site selection process

• 1995 UC Regents selected the Lake Yosemite site in Merced County as their preferred location

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Project put on fast-track in 2000Project put on fast-track in 2000and serious environmental concerns were raised• UC officials initially claim the campus a done deal

• Governor Gray Davis allocates $30 million for conservation easements to serve as mitigation

• Conservation organizations and many UC faculty are enraged by the environmental consequences of the campus

• Regulators warn that the proposed location could not be permitted

• The campus and community are moved a bit south• Packard Foundation puts up $11 million to buy the land

from the trusts and purchase an adjacent parcel

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UC Merced opens in 2005UC Merced opens in 2005on what was once a golf course…

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Talks also began in 2005Talks also began in 2005between UCM and conservation NGOs

• 1st meeting arranged by US Fish & Wildlife Service

• The first year and a half of meetings were fruitless

• June 2006 the US Army Corps of Engineers released and then retracted a draft EIS

• Corps staff publicly stated that the campus could not be permitted as proposed

• UCM began to take the environmental community more seriously

• We began working together on a Conservation Strategy for the entire eastern Merced County region

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2007 brings another draft EIS2007 brings another draft EISbut this one was never released

• UC Merced officials decide that it is time cut a deal with the regulators and the environmental community

• UCM, NGOs and the regulatory agencies reached a consensus on a reduced footprint that also shifted the campus further south

• UCM and NGOs also reached an agreement about how we would work together to achieve certain specific conservation goals on and around the new campus

• November 2008 a new draft EIS/EIR was released fora 60 day public comment period

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New footprint conservation benefitsNew footprint conservation benefitsfor species and habitat

• 721 acres of pristine vernal pool grasslands avoided and protected in perpetuity

• 120 wetted acres of vernal pools, swales and clay playas

• 2 breeding pools for California Tiger Salamander

• 8 pools supporting Midvalley Fairy Shrimp

• 104 pools supporting Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp

• 70 pools supporting Succulent Owl’s Clover

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Other benefitsOther benefitsresulting directly or indirectly

• 32,000 acres of vernal pool grasslands have been placed under conservation easement in Merced County

• Eastern Merced County has a strong conservation strategy that can be used to guide future projects

• UCM and NGOs continue to work together

• UCM has set a new standard for clarity and readability of their environmental documents

• Other large projects are contacting the environmental community early in their projects

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Sunrise-Douglas Planning AreaSunrise-Douglas Planning Areaa brief history…

• Failed negotiations 2002-2004• Regulators and project proponents

• 2004 Conceptual Conservation Strategy• Initiated by Congressman Doug Ose

• Regulators and project proponents

• Presented to NGOs as a fait accompli

• No NEPA analysis of Conceptual Strategy

• USACE began issuing permits in late 2004

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Sunrise-Douglas Planning AreaSunrise-Douglas Planning Areaa success, but not by consensus…

• 1st meeting initiated by USFWS

• There was no second meeting

• NEPA/ESA lawsuit filed June 2006• Preliminary injunction issued July 2007

• Several settlement meetings failed

• USACE withdrew permits to do new NEPA analysis

• CEQA lawsuit filed May 2007• Lower court ruled for petitioners in June 2007

• (Mostly) upheld on appeal

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Take home messagesTake home messagesit is good to have a carrot and a stick…

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Questions and comments?Questions and comments?

Carol W. Witham1141 37th Street

Sacramento, CA 95816(916) 452-5440

cwitham@ncal.net