Wildlands is pleased to announce final bank approval on two important California mitigation banks that provide habitat to federally threatened species.
Locust Road Mitigation Bank
The first is Locust Road Mitigation Bank, a 75-acre bank located in Placer County, California west of the City of Roseville. Wildlands re-established 11.39 acres of vernal pools and 2.53 acres of seasonal wetlands, and these vernal pools serve as habitat for the federally threatened vernal pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi).
The bank received final approval in November 2013 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Bank credits are available to public and private developers to serve as mitigation for regional project impacts to vernal pool species and seasonal wetland habitats. For more info, contact us.
North Delta Fish Conservation Bank
For the North Delta Fish Conservation Bank, Wildlands worked in partnership with the landowners, The Trust for Public Land and Reclamation District 2093, to establish the 811-acre bank located on Liberty Island at the southern end of the Yolo Bypass, in the tidal primary zone of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The Bank will provide high quality habitat to benefit the following species which have special protection status under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and/or the California Endangered Species Act (CESA):
• Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) and critical habitat;
• Longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys);
• Chinook salmon, Sacramento River winter-run (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and critical habitat;
• Chinook salmon, Central Valley spring-run (O. tshawytscha) and critical habitat;
• Steelhead, Central Valley Distinct Population Segment (DPS) (O. mykiss) and critical habitat;
• Green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), Southern DPS and critical habitat; and
• Pacific lamprey (Lampetra tridentata).
Final bank approval was received in October, 2013 from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)
The Bank will contribute towards the restoration and permanent protection of nearly 1,200 acres of fisheries habitat in the legal Delta and the Suisun Marsh sponsored by Wildlands, which also includes the existing Liberty Island Conservation Bank and Preserve, and the Honker Bay Conservation Bank and Preserve.
After implementation the project will result in the enhancement of over 657 acres of tidal marsh complex, including emergent marsh, seasonal wetland, riparian scrub shrub, and shallow open water habitats; over 68 acres of tidal channel enhancement; and over 32 acres of tidal emergent marsh creation through the removal of levees and lowering a portion of the existing floodplain habitat.
Both of these banks are permanently protected with a conservation easement held by Wildlife Heritage Foundation and a non-wasting endowment established to ensure management of the property in perpetuity.
