Annual Report 2005 (62.7MB) - Western Riverside County Regional ...

1.0 INTRODUCTIONRCA to determine if Reserve Assembly within the Criteria Area is being adverselyimpacted.• New or expanded agricultural operations within the Criteria Area for the preceding yearand cumulatively occurring under the processes identified in Section 6.2 of the MSHCP.Existing agricultural uses and conversion of natural lands to agricultural use are allowedas Covered Activities within the Criteria Area. New conversions to agricultural usewithin the Criteria Area are covered up to an established threshold of 10,000 acres overthe life of the Plan. The annual reporting process is used to establish this initialthreshold, to periodically measure new agricultural activities against it, and to analyzepotential impacts to Reserve Assembly associated with these new agricultural activities.• Minor Administrative/Clerical Amendments approved for the preceding year inaccordance with the procedures described in Section 6.10.2 of the MSHCP. The annualreport provides a method to officially document such amendments.• Ongoing management and monitoring activities highlighting issues of concern andproposed remedies/actions. These items are included in the annual report to give insightinto these efforts.• Documentation concerning funding/collection of the Local Development Mitigation Feesto provide insight into management of partial local funding resources available.1.3 MethodsRCA staff worked with each city and the County to build a GIS database of relevantconservation and development activity, which was used to calculate performance measures. Forannual reporting purposes, conservation is counted as a gain when acquired through transfer oftitle or recordation of conservation easement. This annual report reflects conservation betweenFebruary 2000 and December 31, 2005. Development losses are counted at the time of gradingpermit issuance. This annual report reflects losses between June 22, 2004, and December 31,2005. Because losses are counted earlier in the development process (at time of grading permitissuance), and gains are counted at the end of the development process (at time of fee titletransfer/conservation easement recordation at the County Recorder’s Office), a disproportionateamount of habitat losses will always be reported before associated habitat gains can be reportedto offset those losses. In order to accommodate this lag, the MSHCP allowed gains to becounted from February 2000 rather than at the time of permit issuance (June 22, 2004). Thisreporting method eliminates the lag factor outlined above.Western Riverside County MSHCP October 2006Annual Report (January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2005) 1-4