California Gnatcatcher Conservation Bank Approved in San Diego County
ROCKLIN, Calif., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildlands announces the final approval and establishment of the Buena Creek California Catcher and Coastal Sage Scrub Conservation Bank in Northern San Diego County. The bank has been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to mitigate permitted impacts to federally listed California gnatcatcher habitat. Conservation credits can be purchased by public and private development projects to offset permitted impacts to gnatcatcher habitat.
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"Wildlands is proud to provide a needed alternative in an area most agree is critically important to the continued existence of California gnatcatchers," said Brian Monaghan, Vice President at Wildlands. "It certainly could have been developed at some point in the future and it represents a unique opportunity to protect a relatively large, undisturbed parcel in close proximity to developed areas."
The 125-acre Buena Creek property is a high-priority, private land parcel identified as important for conservation. It will be protected and managed with no additional expense to the residents and taxpayers in the area—and due to a conservation easement and a non-wasting endowment, no development of any kind will ever be permitted.
The property offers an abundance of suitable habitat for breeding, foraging and movement for the California gnatcatcher, a federally protected species of bird that lives in sage scrub habitat in the low-lying hillsides of Coastal Southern California. Development along the Southern California coast had previously fragmented much of this habitat.
The project is just one of many that Wildlands operates and manages throughout the West, with more than 45 such projects currently in California, Oregon and Washington and more on the horizon in Southern California. "We are particularly excited about Buena Creek and our next wetland mitigation bank along the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside. We will continue to work with resource agencies to find spots where we are needed," said Monaghan.
Launched in 1991, Wildlands is a private mitigation and conservation banking firm based in Rocklin, CA. With major projects throughout California, Oregon and Washington, Wildlands has preserved and protected more than 40,000 acres of habitat while offering mitigation and conservation credits to public and private developers.
SOURCE Wildlands
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