Science Spotlight

A California red-legged frog sits motionless at the edge of McClure pond at the Sparling Ranch Conservation Bank. Photo by Ashley Spratt/USFWS


McClure pond is one of the most productive California red-legged frog ponds at the Sparling Ranch Conservation Bank. Like many of those on Sparling Ranch, it was named after the family who homesteaded in site in the late 1800s. Photo by Ashley Spratt/USFWS

Since the mid-1980s, California has been using a system of conservation and mitigation banking to protect valuable natural resources and critical habitat for fish, wildlife and plants. These banks are generally large, connected, ecologically meaningful areas of preserved, restored, enhanced or constructed habitat (for example, wetlands) that are set aside for the express purpose of providing mitigation for project impacts. Conservation banks provide mitigation for impacts to listed species and habitats, while wetland mitigation banks primarily provide mitigation for wetland impacts. Together, they serve to prevent inadequate, fragmented reserves that can result when mitigation projects are carried out individually.

Banks work by establishing credits for sensitive species or habitats found on a given site. These credits can then be sold to developers or other project proponents who need to meet permitting requirements or are otherwise required to compensate for environmental impacts. For those parties needing to mitigate for project impacts, banks serve to streamline the regulatory process by providing a pre-established mitigation site that the regulating state and federal agencies have already confirmed will provide adequate and appropriate mitigation for certain habitats or species. By mitigating at a bank, project proponents can avoid the time and cost of searching for a suitable mitigation site and protecting it in perpetuity themselves.

In order for the banking system to be effective, state and federal agencies must work closely together to align processes and practices. Since 1993, CDFW has been participating in the planning, review, approval, establishment, monitoring and oversight of 81 banks statewide. Other agencies that typically participate in the regulation and approval of conservation banks include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA NMFS).

To read more about one of these successful partnerships, please visit USFWS’ newsroom.

Learn more about CDFW’s Conservation and Mitigation Banking program, on our website.

All photos courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Top photo: A herd of cattle graze atop a hillside at Sparling Ranch near Hollister, Calif. Photo by Ashley Spratt/USFWS.

The latest issue of CDFW’s scientific journal, California Fish and Game, is now available online.

A bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) is featured on the cover of Volume 103, Issue 2. This is to honor the life of well-known wildlife biologist Dick Weaver, who passed away in February 2017 at the age of 91. Known by his friends and peers as “Mr. Bighorn,” Dick devoted much of his adult life to studying and managing bighorn sheep as well as other desert wildlife — and to inspiring and mentoring others who follow in his footsteps.

Not coincidentally, the latest issue also includes the results of a bighorn sheep study. CDFW Environmental Scientist Vernon Bleich and colleagues spent months documenting the mineral content of forage plants used by bighorn sheep at Panamint Range and Old Dad Peak. After measuring the concentrations of 11 minerals in nine plant species, the researchers discovered something surprising: although the same plant species occur in both areas, the mineral contents varied by location. The researchers attribute their findings to climatological differences between the two mountain ranges and to differences in substrate chemistry.

Other published studies in this issue focus on the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and the coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Although both species have been extensively studied, these papers document new research methodologies that may improve the accuracy of future efforts to locate red-legged frog egg masses, and to track juvenile coho salmon.

As it has for the past 103 years, California Fish and Game continues to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed science that contributes to the understanding and conservation of California’s wildlife. We look forward to witnessing the contributions of the next installment.