2009 California Fish and Game Code - Section 1775-1779.5 :: Article 1. General Provisions

FISH AND GAME CODE
SECTION 1775-1779.5

1775.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act of 1993.

1776.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) Wetlands are an important natural resource of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley because they provide significant
habitat for migratory waterfowl of the Pacific flyway, for endangered
species, and for many other resident wildlife and fish populations.
Wetlands provide additional public benefits, including water quality
improvement, flood protection, stream bank stabilization, recreation,
and scientific research.
   (b) Active and voluntary involvement by private landowners is
necessary for the long-term availability and productivity of wetlands
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
   (c) Large wetland preserves in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley,
under certain circumstances, can provide an environmentally
preferable alternative to a number of small, isolated wetland
preserves of the same type surrounded by urban development.
   (d) It is the policy of the state with respect to the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley:
   (1) To provide for the protection, preservation, restoration,
enhancement, and expansion of the wetland habitat in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
   (2) To promote the protection, preservation, restoration,
enhancement, and expansion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley
wetlands in concert with other federal, state, and local programs,
and interested parties.
   (3) To improve cooperative efforts among private, nonprofit, and
public entities for the management and protection of wetlands.
   (4) To assure that no net loss of either wetland acreage or
habitat values results from activities pursuant to this chapter in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley that otherwise comply with state
and federal law.
   (5) To encourage and maintain a predictable, efficient, and timely
regulatory framework for environmentally acceptable development.
   (6) To assure that the construction or maintenance of wetland
mitigation banks in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley does not reduce
any local tax base, does not create any uncompensated increased
requirement for local services, and does not create conditions that
have the potential to adversely affect the public health.
   (7) To provide an alternative for accomplishing offsite mitigation
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley when offsite mitigation is
required under a fill permit issued pursuant to Section 404 of the
federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344 et seq.).
   (e) This chapter constitutes a nonexclusive alternative to other
lawful methods of mitigating project impacts upon wetlands and
maintaining and increasing wetlands acreage and habitat values
generally. Specifically, this chapter is not intended to, and shall
not be interpreted to:
   (1) Condone or encourage the removal, loss, or degradation of
wetlands.
   (2) Condone or encourage the removal, loss, or degradation of
habitat for any rare, threatened, or endangered species.
   (3) Abrogate any other local, state, or federal law or policy
relating to wetlands, nor prohibit any city or county from
prohibiting the removal, filling, or other destruction of particular
wetlands.
   (4) Establish maximum or minimum standards or any other
requirements for wetland fill or mitigation, except for mitigation
banks established pursuant to this chapter.
   (5) Have legal or necessary precedential application to any other
area of the state, or to other lands, resources, situations, or
circumstances.
   (6) Preclude other forms of mitigation banking, including private
or for-profit programs, within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
   (7) Be the exclusive method of providing compensation by
permittees for the loss of wetlands within the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Valley.

1776.5.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the funds
necessary to cover the costs of administering this chapter be
provided by the purchase of credits in mitigation bank sites.

1777.  Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in
this article govern the construction of this chapter.

1777.2.  "Bank site" or "mitigation bank site" means a publicly or
privately owned and operated site on which wetlands have been or will
be created in accordance with this chapter to compensate for adverse
impacts caused by removal or fill permit activities authorized
pursuant to Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C.
Sec. 1344 et seq.). "Bank site" or "mitigation bank site" may include
land on which rice is grown as long as those lands are managed as
ricelands and those lands meet the other requirements of Section
1784.

1777.5.  "Credit" means a numerical value that represents the
wetland acreage and habitat values of a mitigation bank site.

1778.  "Operator" means the department, or a public or private
person or entity approved by the department, to administer a wetlands
mitigation bank site.

1778.5.  "Permittee" means a public or private person or entity that
meets all of the following conditions:
   (a) Has received a permit pursuant to Section 404 of the federal
Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344 et seq.) for the removal or
filling of wetlands, subject to a condition that allows the permittee
to compensate for the wetland loss through participation in a
wetland mitigation bank pursuant to this chapter.
   (b) Proposes to compensate for the loss of the wetlands through
participation in a wetlands mitigation bank pursuant to this chapter.
   (c) Proposes the discharge at a site within a qualifying urban
area and not more than 40 miles from a bank site with sufficient
acreage of the same types of wetlands that will provide suitable
replacement habitat for the values that may be lost from the
conversion of the existing wetlands.

1779.  "Qualifying urban area" means any of the following when they
occur within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley:
   (a) A geographical area having a population of 50,000 or more
inhabitants within the jurisdiction of a city, or a town, as defined
by Sections 20 and 21 of the Government Code.
   (b) A portion of any geographical area within a town, as defined
in Section 21 of the Government Code, which has a population density
equal to, or exceeding, 1,500 persons per square mile and which has a
population of 50,000 or more inhabitants.
   (c) A geographical area having a population density equal to, or
exceeding, 1,500 persons per square mile, and an adjacent city, as
defined in Section 20 of the Government Code, where the combined
population of the geographical area and the city equals 50,000 or
more inhabitants.
   (d) A geographical area within the sphere of influence of a city
or community services district for which the projected population of
the adopted general plan equals 10,000 or more inhabitants.

1779.5.  "Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley" means the central valley
region, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 13200 of the Water
Code.

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