"Conservation Banks" Flourish in California; State Policy Promotes Selling of Conservation Credits.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 1996--An innovative policy of the Wilson Administration has facilitated the creation of 36 "conservation banks" - wildlife habitat areas that are restored and permanently protected by the selling of credits to offset development impacts elsewhere - according to a report released today by the California Resources Agency and the Department of Fish and Game.

The conservation banks, which include land that is worth at least $40 million in total, are located in 12 counties. There are three conservation banks in Northern California, ten in Central California (including six in metropolitan Sacramento), and 23 in Southern California (including 19 in San Diego County). Examples of these lands - and their regional habitat conservation benefits - are:

- In San Diego County, the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County Foundation is helping to finance its ongoing programs for area youth by creating the two-phase San Vicente Conservation Bank, a 1,500-acre former cattle ranch. By doing so, the Foundation is creating a wildlife preserve consistent with the Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) in San Diego and the State's Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) pilot program.

- In western Placer County, a private entrepreneur has created Wildlands Inc., a 315-acre preserve of wetland and riparian habitat established through the sale of credits for the mitigation of Sacramento area development projects.

- In Carlsbad, the 260-acre Carlsbad Highlands Conservation Bank was created in 1995 by the Bank of America and has sold all available credits, some of which may be sold again by a construction company. The preserve created by the conservation bank directly supports the Carlsbad Habitat Management Plan, which is an element of the Multiple Habitat Conservation Plan, which itself is a component of the State's NCCP pilot program.

- In Kern County, through its 6,000-acre Coles Levee Ecosystem Reserve, a division of ARCO is facilitating its continuing oil and gas operations, selling credits to other landowners in the Southern San Joaquin County, and helping implementation of the Metropolitan Bakersfield Habitat Conservation Plan.

"Conservation banking is a highly promising new tool for effective resource management," said California Secretary for Resources Douglas P. Wheeler. "We are helping to use the forces of the marketplace to fund and promote sound, regional habitat conservation across California. This is an emerging means by which to pursue environmental and economic objectives concurrently."

What is a Conservation Bank?

A conservation bank is a parcel of land whose natural resource values -- habitat types or species present -- are sold or traded as credits to those who must compensate (under State and Federal laws) for resource impacts on land elsewhere. Thus, in order satisfy the legal requirement for mitigation of environmental impacts from a development, a landowner can buy credits from a conservation bank.

These credits fund habitat restoration at the site of the conservation bank and provide a permanent endowment for operation of the bank as a wildlife preserve. The availability of conservation banks also eases the regulatory process of permitting projects.

Under a 1995 Wilson Administration policy on conservation banking, banks are specifically encouraged in areas where they support continuing regional habitat conservation strategies.

Thus, the 36 existing conservation banks in California serve to:

- allow the private and public sectors to harness market forces to improve the traditional ways of protecting and restoring wildlife habitat;

- advance effective regional habitat conservation by allowing the bundling of mitigation credits at sites recognized to be high priorities for regional conservation;

- ameliorate the adverse impacts of development in areas of rapid growth (such as metropolitan Sacramento and San Diego County) through the creation of permanent habitat preserves;

- provide a mechanism that allows a landowner to obtain a financial return for conserving land rather than developing it; and

- offer a viable alternative to the often costly process of conventional project mitigation at single sites.

The report released today - "A Catalogue of Conservation Banks in California: Innovative Tools for Natural Resource Management" - is available directly from the Resources Agency (916-653-5656) or on-line through the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (http://ceres.ca.gov).

CONTACT: California Resources Agency

Andy McLeod, 916/653-5792

Use "CERES" at: http://ceres.ca.gov