Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) Goal: The Board will develop a monitoring
and adaptive management program for timber harvesting operations in Watersheds
with Coho Salmon. The purpose of the program will be:
(i) to determine whether or not the
operational Forest Practice Rules and associated hillslope and instream
mitigation measures afford a level of protection that is both appropriate and
adequate to ensure protection of coho salmon and its habitat,
(ii) to provide monitoring necessary to
ensure the Forest Practice Rules are being implemented in a manner consistent
with the California Endangered Species Act as required under
14 CCR
§
896, and
(iii) to provide a timely feedback process
for the Board to assess rule effectiveness in meeting the stated goals under
subsections (i) and (ii).
(1) The monitoring
component of the program will provide the information necessary to evaluate the
effectiveness of mitigation measures and identify when site-specific mitigation
or operational Rules should be revised to better accomplish the goals of the
Board.
(A) Four types of monitoring will be
addressed under the program including:
(i)
compliance,
(ii)
implementation,
(iii) effectiveness,
and
(iv)
validation.
(B) Review
Team agencies will continue to conduct mandated compliance and implementation
monitoring as part of their regulatory responsibilities.
(C) Effectiveness monitoring will be
undertaken by the landowner; or be a cooperative effort between landowners and
the Department, Review Team agencies, or a cooperative interdisciplinary
team.
(D) Long-term validation
monitoring will be undertaken by the Department, or facilitated through
cooperative agreements among stakeholders and Review Team agencies.
(E) The Board or its designee may include any
monitoring that meets the intent of this section, including any efforts that
are already underway by the landowner, agencies or other
cooperators.
(2) The
adaptive management component of the program will be a process of action-based
planning, monitoring, evaluating and adjusting through use of the scientific
method; with the objective of maintaining fully functioning habitat conditions
and facilitating conservation of coho salmon populations.
(A) Four elements of adaptive management will
be addressed under the program including:
(i)
identification of substantial new information,
(ii) collection of substantial new
information,
(iii) evaluation of
substantial new information, and
(iv) determination regarding the necessity or
benefit of adjustments and improvements to mitigation and protective measures,
including the Forest Practice Rules, based upon the substantial new
information.
(b)
(1) In
collaboration with the Department and other Review Team agencies, the Board
shall appoint a scientific technical advisory committee to develop monitoring
practices to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures at the
appropriate scale.
(A) In development of
monitoring practices, the Board's appointed scientific technical advisory
committee may also engage other experts in the field for assistance.
(B) The monitoring practices will be applied
by the landowner; or be a cooperative effort between landowners and the
Department, Review Team agencies, or a cooperative interdisciplinary
team.
(2) Monitoring
practices and strategies may be peer reviewed by a scientific technical
advisory committee as directed by the Board.
(3) The design and implementation of
monitoring shall be done in consultation with the Department and other Review
Team agencies, and the sufficiency of information shall be judged in light of
its scientific merit and what is reasonable and practical.
(A) Monitoring data shall be derived from
agency monitoring programs, landowner monitoring programs, or cooperative
Projects.
(4) As a
condition of Plan approval, based upon substantial evidence in the record, the
Director may require monitoring:
(A) Anytime
after Plan approval,
(B) Concurrent
with Timber Operations, and
(C)
After completion of operations during the remainder of the Prescribed
Maintenance Period.
(5)
Monitoring data collected pursuant to (b)(4) or (b)(6) shall be provided to the
Board annually.
(6) The Plan shall
incorporate monitoring requirements in conformance with the requirements of a
valid incidental take permit for coho salmon within the Planning Watershed that
has been authorized pursuant to the following:
(A) a valid incidental take permit issued by
CDFW pursuant to §
2081(b)
of the Fish and Game Code; or
(B) a
federal incidental take statement or incidental take permit, for which a
consistency determination has been made pursuant to §
2080.1
of the Fish and Game Code; or
(C)
§
2835 of
the Fish and Game Code under a valid natural community conservation plan
approved by CDFW.
(c) The Department shall prepare an annual
report in conjunction with a Board appointed technical subcommittee summarizing
progress and significant findings from monitoring activities collected
throughout the year in accordance with subsection (b)(4) above. The report
shall be (i) provided to the Board during the first quarter of each calendar
year, (ii) made available to the public upon request, and (iii) placed on the
Board's website for at least 180 days.
(d) Based upon the findings presented in the
annual monitoring report(s), the Director, in conjunction with the Board
appointed technical subcommittee, may recommend additions, deletions or
modifications to the Forest Practice Rules if the necessity for such a change
is supported by substantial evidence in the reports. A specific recommendation
based upon the findings that a rule requirement is no longer necessary shall
also be supported by substantial evidence.
1. New
section filed 11-29-2007; effective 1-1-2008 pursuant to Public Resources Code
section
4554.5(a);
operative the date Department of Fish and Game regulations 14 CCR sections
787.0-787.9 become effective (Register 2007, No. 48).
2. Change
without regulatory effect amending section filed 12-20-2017 pursuant to section
100, title 1, California Code of
Regulations (Register 2017, No. 51).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
4551,
4562.7
and
21000(g),
Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections
751,
4512,
4513,
4551.5,
21000(g),
21001(b)
and
21002.1,
Public Resources Code; Sections
100, 1243 and
13050(f) Water
Code; and Sections
1600
and
5650(c),
Fish and Game Code.
