Commission will reduce fee used to protect habitats

Irony: Halt to Eagle Mountain impacted enviro plans to buy critical habitat



Coachella Valley Multiple Species
Habitat Conservation Plan area

Written by Keith Matheny
mydesert.com

Coachella Valley -- A developer fee that supports a valleywide species habitat protection plan will be reduced.

The Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, which consists of representatives from the nine valley cities, Riverside County and local water agencies, plans to reduce the mitigation fee supporting the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

The plan protects 240,000 acres of open space and 27 plant and animal species in and around the Coachella Valley, including the threatened desert tortoise, peninsular bighorn sheep and desert pupfish.

The planned fee reduction is $130 per acre for commercial or industrial development, to $5,600 from $5,730.

The fee will drop $30 per acre for developments of up to eight units in affected areas, to $1,254 from $1,284.

Tom Kirk, Coachella Valley Association of Governments executive director, said the fee reductions are prompted by a new “nexus study” required of governments to occasionally evaluate the appropriateness of fees charged for new development.

Declining property values due to the struggling economy did not have a large impact on the fee, Kirk said, because the properties often purchased for habitat protection are remote and less desirable for building, which tends to keep land values more flat.

The habitat protection program hit a potential snag in March, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturning a land exchange that in effect halted the Eagle Mountain Landfill near Joshua Tree National Park.

The multiple species plan was counting on $250 million in long-term funding from the landfill, Kirk said, and developers potentially faced a huge fee increase without it.

But CVAG officials worked with federal and state agencies, environmentalists, and the local building industry, eventually striking a deal to continue with plans to buy critical habitat lands most susceptible to development over the next 20 to 30 years, but to shift lesser priority land purchases out up to 40 years, Kirk said.

“It drove down the fee a little bit, which was a heck of a lot better than raising it a whole lot,” he said.

Riverside County Planning Department Deputy Director Greg Neal said county supervisors are having staff return with an amended plan for a county board vote.

Other member governments will similarly have to amend their ordinances, he said.

Though the multi-species plan was adopted in 2007, to date it has raised only about $2 million in development impact fees — far below projections — due to the down economy, Kirk said.

“One of the many ironies of the plan is, when we have wildlife interests knocking at our door saying, ‘Why don't you acquire more land?' we need more development to do it,” he said.

The program has relied on about $5 million in federal grant funds and $13 million in CVAG transportation mitigation fees to pay for acquisitions, property management and biological monitoring, Kirk said.

“At CVAG, we look at it much like a developer does,” he said. “We'd rather pay a fee to help build interchanges on the I-10 than deal with the uncertainty and high cost of dealing with endangered species on a case-by-case basis.”

Conservation Commission to buy Big Morongo parcel

Erica Felci
The Desert Sun



Big Morongo Canyon Preserve (BLM)


Coachella Valley officials are spending $3.9 million to acquire 638 acres in Big Morongo Canyon, the largest land purchase since the desert multi-species protection act went into effect last fall.

The Coachella Valley Conservation Commission last week approved buying the habitat lands. Officials say they saved $1.1 million.

The deal should be finalized in August.

The property, along the north part of Indian Drive, is a significant parcel as it was part of the now-defunct Palmwood project. The golf resort was once envisioned as an economic boost to Desert Hot Springs, and was a key reason the city initially opted out of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

This land is part of a “significant wildlife corridor,” said Katie Barrows, environmental resources director for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

“Acquisition of the Palmwood parcel will be a significant step to ensuring conservation of this rich natural area and access to trails for generations to come,” Rancho Mirage Councilman Richard Kite, chairman of the conservation commission, said in a statement.

The 75-year, $2.2 billion multi-species act — designed to preserve land and habitat for 27 of the desert's endangered and protected species — went into effect in October. Since then, the conservation commission has acquired about 227 acres of habitat land.

During the 12 years it took valley and county officials to develop the plan, about 60,000 acres were acquired.

Barrows said there was interest in acquiring additional land in the area around Palmwood.

Desert Hot Springs City Council in November rescinded its earlier approval of the Palmwood development and decertified the project's Environmental Impact Report.

City officials in recent months have been working on Desert Hot Springs becoming a full member of the valleywide conservation effort.

In what is a first step to that inclusion, the city has been working with various agencies regarding conservation in the 4,000 acres they are looking to annex near Interstate 10.

About 1,900 acres make up land eyed for habitat.

Officials continue to study what is needed to amend the original plan to let the city join. That amendment would have to be approved by every jurisdiction that's already in the plan.

“By next summer, our hope would be that Desert Hot Springs can adopt the multi-species plan” and its related regulations and fees, City Manager Rick Daniels said.

Mapping California deserts for projects, protection

JAKE HENSHAW
Desert Sun

State officials are mapping the California desert to identify what to designate for renewable energy projects and what to protect.

At the direction of the governor, energy and wildlife experts are trying to get ahead of potential solar, geothermal and wind projects that could lead to acres of solar panels and miles of transmission lines.

Protected areas such as those in the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan are in the review area, but state staff members expect them to benefit from the state effort.

‘‘We think this can help local entities reach their conservation goals sooner,'' said Kevin Hunting, who oversees the work for the state Department of Fish and Game.

He added: ‘‘I think there is a nice fit with the Coachella Valley plan and the (state) desert plan.''

The work on the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan generally is welcomed in the local area, where it's seen as a way to avoid haphazard development that could undermine the desert quality of life.

‘‘It's going to happen,'' Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said of renewable development. ‘‘We want it to be well-planned.''

He, Supervisor Marion Ashley and local Sierra Club representative Joan Taylor agreed that habitat planning is important before major new generating plants or transmission lines are built.

Initial assessments indicate potential renewable sites for 6,748 gigawatt hours per year in the region that includes Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms and eastern Riverside County, and there are dozens of applications for renewable projects on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in the desert.

‘‘Basically, if they are put in the wrong places, it could be a disaster for the desert ecosystem,'' said Taylor, who lives in Palm Springs.

But Ashley added that he also is looking at ways to tap energy projects to help finance the rescue of the Salton Sea, where wildlife and the sea are threatened by increased salinity and diversion plans for some water now flowing into the sea.

‘‘There should be a fee for restoration of the Salton Sea,'' Ashley said.

The goal is to speed up the development of renewable energy to help the state reduce greenhouse gas and switch to cleaner fuel by predetermining the best sites for renewable energy development.

Developers wouldn't have use these sites, but those that do would save time by capitalizing on environmental reviews done for those spots.

‘‘It dramatically reduces the time it takes for an applicant on a renewable energy project to get from drawing board to generating electricity,'' Hunting said.

The review, which covers the Colorado and Mojave desert regions, was ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Nov. 17 executive order that called for a third of the state's electricity to be produced by renewable power by 2020.

Now it's about 12 percent.

In his proposed 2009-10 budget, the governor recommended spending $5.6 million on this effort by the two agencies.

While the budget has yet to be approved, work has already begun on the desert plan with existing funds.

It is being coordinated with an older state project, the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative, that is primarily focused on ensuring adequate transmission for renewable energy projects needed to meet state targets.

The desert plan is meant to provide environmental reviews of the best sites for renewable projects based on such issues as their value for energy production and access to transmission lines, while designating environmentally sensitive sites for long-term protection.

The executive order calls for the draft plan to be done by the end of 2010 and the final plan by June 1, 2012. The goal is to cut the processing time of permits for projects in designated areas by at least 50 percent.

With 80 percent of proposed solar development on federal land, the desert planning project also includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

All together, Hunting said 24 local, six federal and a dozen state agencies have some say in energy development.

Feds look for help to save desert tortoise

Marcel Honoré
The Desert Sun







Federal conservation officials hope to partner with regional land managers, off-roaders, environmentalists and scientists in their latest efforts to protect the Mojave population of the desert tortoise.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing the new strategy to bring multiple parties to the table in a new draft report released earlier this week. The draft revises the agency's 1994 recovery plan for the desert tortoise.

The Mojave tortoise is found in the Coachella Valley, as well as across California, Arizona, Nevada and southwestern Utah.

New roads, landfills, fires, military operations, trash-dumping and off-roading have all taken their total on the Mojave tortoise populations in recent years.

It was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990.

The new federal effort would compliment the local Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation plan, said Katie Barrows, environmental resources director for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

The $1.8 billion multi-species plan aims to protect 27 species, including the desert tortoise.

“We're fortunate because we have a lot of conservation areas,” Barrows said. The multi-species plan, which awaits federal permits, would link tortoise habitats north and south of Interstate 10 via under-passes and washes, Barrows said.

Fred Wiley, executive director of the Off-Road Business Association, said he was “encouraged” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's strategy to reach a consensus among various desert stakeholders.

“I have been working on these issues for many years with different federal agencies,” Wiley said.

“You don't have (consensus), there's always a way to obstruct the process.”

Desert Hot Springs OKs draft to join habitat plan

Mariecar Mendoza
The Desert Sun

Desert Hot Springs took another step in its effort to catch up with the rest of the Coachella Valley as the City Council voted to move forward with its plan to join a $2.2 billion conservation plan.

In a 4-0 vote Tuesday, with Councilman Al Schmidt abstaining, the City Council approved a draft Planning Agreement with the California Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments that outlines how Desert Hot Springs will join the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

The Planning Agreement is the third step in a long process that Desert Hot Springs officials hope will result in a major amendment to add the city to the plan by the end of the year.

"It's a step that we use to essentially solidify the intent of the city to work with us," said Katie Barrows, CVAG's director of Environmental Resources.

The Planning Agreement completes a long list of important tasks such as defining each agency's goals and commitments to the conservation plan; defines the geographic scope of the conservation planning area; and identifies a preliminary list of natural communities and species known or expected to be affected by the conservation plan.

"This Planning Agreement still needs to go to Sacramento to the Department of Fish & Game for their review and approval," Barrows said. "But we are prepared to go ahead and initiate the process."

Desert Hot Springs was the only city to opt out of the plan in 2006, which forced valley officials to revise the plan and bring it before each city for another approval.

The then-Desert Hot Springs City Council cited concerns the habitat plan could negatively impact proposed projects, notably the Palmwood Golf Club.

But by the fall of 2007, city officials changed their minds and approved a Memorandum of Understanding showing intent to join the conservation plan as soon as possible.

The plan is aimed at preserving land that is home to 27 of the desert's endangered and protected species such as the Peninsular bighorn sheep and desert tortoise.

The city and agencies have not established deadline dates in the Planning Agreement.