What: Announcement of Public Meeting and Workshop – Proposed Final Mitigation Bank Templates for Enabling Instruments and Conservation Easements
When: March 1, 2017, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where:
DWR Conference Room 119 (first floor)
3500 Industrial Boulevard
West Sacramento, California 95691
Who: This public meeting and workshop is open to interested parties, including mitigation and conservation bankers, consultants, environmental organizations, Federal, state and local agencies, and the regulated public.
Tentative Agenda:
Opening Remarks
Overview of public comments and subsequent changes
Discussion of key issues, including credit release and endowment funding schedules
Discussion of other templates, future template revisions, workshops, process
Remaining questions and comments from attendees
Closing Remarks
You do not need to RSVP to attend this meeting and workshop. Attendees will need to sign in with the guard at the front of the building. Parking is free.
SUBJECT: In response to comments received following the September 2015 Public Notice and during the September 2016 public meeting, a number of changes were made to the proposed updated Bank Enabling Instrument (BEI) template and Conservation Easement (CE) template, for use in the development of mitigation and conservation banks that are within, or that propose service areas within the State of California. The Project Delivery Team (PDT) established by the 2011 interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning Mitigation and Conservation Banking and In-Lieu Fee Programs in California developed the currently proposed final templates, following the consideration of comments received in response to the 2015 public notice, during the 2016 public meeting, and following input from the Bank Agency Management Team (BAMT), also established by the MOU. This meeting and workshop is an opportunity for attendees to discuss key issues. Following this meeting and workshop, the BAMT will provide direction to the PDT to release one or both templates or to consider further revision to the templates prior to release. The updated templates would be used jointly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) South Pacific Division, including its Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Districts, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as potential participants in Interagency Review Teams (IRT). This notice, as well as the original notice of the proposed updates, may be viewed at: http://www.spd.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNoticesandReferences.aspx.
AUTHORITY: The templates would be used in the development of mitigation banks, which provide mitigation for impacts from projects which have which have received authorizations to proceed under the authorities of Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 for structures or work in or affecting navigable waters of the United States and/or Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for the discharge of dredged or fill material in waters of the United States. Additionally, these templates are to be used when those mitigation banks would also propose to provide mitigation for projects which have been required to provide mitigation by USFWS, CDFW, NMFS, the State Water Board, and/or NRCS. These agencies have committed through the above mentioned MOU to establishing a combined and coordinated approach to mitigation and conservation banking which includes the development of template documents for use throughout the State of California. These templates reflect existing regulations, policies, and guidance and represent the way in which USACE, USFWS, NMFS, NRCS, EPA, the CNRA, the State Water Board, and CDFW intend to implement and provide a consistent approach to mitigation and conservation banking proposals.
If you have questions or need additional information please contact Tom Cavanaugh, 415-503-6574, Thomas.J.Cavanaugh@usace.army.mil.
Attachments:
Bank Enabling Instrument (BEI) Template
Conservation Easement (CE) Template