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September 2006
California Oak Report
Imminent Threat to Woodlands Wildlife
The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection is considering a "Practice of Forestry" policy statement detrimental to oak woodlands conservation. Development interests are seeking to abridge the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System (CWHR) in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reviews so that the true wildlife habitat impacts caused by the removal of oak woodlands remain hidden:
Practice of Forestry Policy Statement II
"Tree dominated landscapes such as forests and woodlands may be identified using a variety of vegetation classification systems including but not limited to all of the tree dominated habitat types of the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System [CWHR], A Manual of California Vegetation; Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program; various California Native Plant Society publications; and Preliminary Descriptions of the Terrestrial Natural Communities."
California Oak Foundation Concern
The California Department of Fish and Game's CWHR is commonly used by federal, state and some county government agencies to assess wildlife habitats. It is the only California vegetation classification system that also provides a predictive model for the biological relationships between those vegetation types and 692 wildlife species, with nearly 50 percent associated with oak woodlands. This combination of wildlife and woodlands information is essential for analyzing CEQA oak habitat impacts and developing appropriate mitigation measures.
Currently the other proposed policy classification systems lack CWHR's oak habitat wildlife suitability component. For oak woodlands, CWHR represents the superior oak habitat classification system. "Habitat" and "environment" are synonymous terms, making CWHR the perfect complement for CEQA oak woodland reviews. Regrettably, under CEQA the proposed standards of non governmental organizations have no legal standing. As a Responsible Agency, the Department of Fish and Game's CWHR oak habitat assessment system does have applicability.
Please contact the Board of Forestry and join COF in halting this pernicious effort to separate California wildlife from California oak woodlands. Let the Board know that the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System does more than just classify vegetation; CWHR provides the oak woodlands habitat data necessary for full environmental review.
CEQA Mitigation Q & A
Q. Public Resources Code §21083.4 (SB 1334) county mitigation applies to all native oak trees "5 inches or more in diameter at breast height." Does this standard also apply to oak trees with multiple trunks?
A. Yes. If the total of all trunks equals 5 or more inches in diameter, SB 1334 applies. Since trees are measured in 1-inch increments, in practice only single and multi-trunk oak trees 4 inches or less in diameter are exempt from Public Resources Code §21083.4 mitigation requirements.
Q. Oak woodlands are defined as having 10 percent oak canopy cover. What is the purpose of the 10 percent oak canopy cover standard?
A. The 10 percent oak canopy cover standard determines if Public Resources Code §21083.4 is
applicable upon a determination that a project may result in a significant impact to oak woodlands. If a project site has less than 10 percent oak canopy cover, SB 1334 does not apply.
Process: (1) does the project site contain 10% oak canopy cover?; (2) if yes, does the project potentially cause significant impacts to oak woodlands habitat?; (3) if yes, mix and match the four PRC 21083.4 mitigation options to reduce oak woodland habitat impacts to less than significant.
Q. In calculating oak canopy cover are local tree ordinance size standards used?
A. No. Public Resources Code §4793(e) stipulates that live oak "trees of any size" are to be counted in gauging oak canopy cover.
Q. If development mitigation funds are donated to the state Oak Woodlands Conservation Fund, how would this money come back to counties to conserve local lands? Is there a more direct route to funding local restoration projects?
A. Monetary donations to the Oak Woodlands Conservation Fund (OWCF) could stipulate return to the county of origin. Public Resources Code §21083.4(4) allows a county to designate oak woodland mitigation funds to capable local conservation groups in lieu of the OWCF.
Q. What are oak woodland mitigation banks? Do you have info on counties that already use oak mitigation banks? Can conservation organizations set them up or only the county?
A. Counties don't yet have oak woodland mitigation banks because the opportunity is just emerging. Counties and local conservation organizations should foster the development of oak woodlands mitigation banks by facilitating a list of local rangeland owners willing to make lands available for developers wanting to plant oaks off-site as California Environmental Quality Act mitigation. Local or state conservation organizations would hold the conservation easements placed on these mitigation oak woodlands.
It needs to be stressed that rangeland owners are not participating in a zero sum endeavor. Under this approach oak resource conservation does not replace grazing income; growing oaks augments landowner earnings. When planted mitigation oaks are no longer subject to serious cattle damage, grazing may resume (Restoring Native California Oaks on Grazed Rangelands,
McCreary 2005).
Q. Are public utility districts exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act oak woodland mitigation measures?
A. No. While utility districts are exempt from local oak tree ordinances, their multi-jurisdictional operations within a county and across county lines means Public Resources Code §21083.4 applies to utility districts.
Updated Oak Woodland Definitions
California Oak Foundation recommends the following county oak woodland definitions for California Environmental Quality Act processes:
"A given unit of land" means the land contained within the project site expressed in acres or portion of an acre. If the project site, prior to any proposed land division, is comprised of multiple parcels, the parcels may be treated as a single given unit of land for the purpose of determining oak tree numbers, canopy cover, retention requirements and mitigation measures.
"Oak" means a live native oak tree that is 5 inches or more diameter at breast height (dbh). In the case of oak trees with multiple trunks, the diameter of all trunks at breast height shall be combined to calculate dbh. (Note: State law allows more rigorous local standards to apply).
"Oak canopy cover" means the area directly under the live branches of the oak trees, defined as a percent, of a given unit of land. Live oak trees of any size are to be counted in calculating canopy cover.
"Oak woodlands" means a given unit of land where a plurality of the live trees are oaks and the project site contains 10 percent or more oak canopy cover.
"Tree Planting Mitigation" means an oak tree planting replacement ratio of at least 4:1 for removed trees. Planted trees must be maintained for seven years, including replacement of mitigation oaks that become diseased or die during this period. An estimation of the total mitigation costs and the location of feasible planting sites shall be part of a tree planting plan.
Announcements
1. Saving Sierra Places: An Activist's Toolkit for Winning Land Use Campaigns. Want to know more about how CEQA works? Or how to get people to show up to an important hearing? Or how to find out which elected officials are taking money from developers? Available from Sierra Nevada Alliance - order from their website at www.sierranevadaalliance.org. Click "Programs" then "Planning for the Future Campaign" then "Activist's Toolkit."
2. 6th California Oak Symposium - California's Oaks: Today's Challenges, Tomorrow's Opportunities. October 9-12, 2006 in Sonoma County. Topics include monitoring, restoration, regeneration, livestock relations, utilization, recreation, ecology, fire, wildlife, conservation easements, pest and diseases. Coordinated by the University of California, Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program and sponsored by Audubon California, California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, California Oak Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Pepperwood Foundation, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Sonoma County Water Agency, Univ. of Calif. Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, Wildlife Conservation Board.
Merchandise
Grandmother Oak, a young children's story book by Rosi Dagit, a certified arborist and technical advisor to the California Oak Foundation, and illustrated by Gretta Allison. Grandmother Oak lives near Los Angeles in Topanga State Park. Thousands of school children meet her each year as part of the park education program. Proceeds from this book provide funding to plant Grandmother Oak's acorns in Topanga State Park. Twenty-two pages soft back. $6.95 ($6.26 members) plus sales tax, shipping and handling.
New to Our Website
Restoring Native California Oaks on Grazed Rangelands - Efforts to regenerated oaks on California's oak woodlands often must address how to establish seedlings in areas grazed by livestock. Written by Douglas McCreary and Jerry Techlin.
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