Core Areas for the Kern County EIR Project Area

The DRAFT document can be found online here: http://pcd.kerndsa.com/planning/planning-programsThe VFHCP is a long-term program designed to conserve federally protected species, State-protectedspecies, and/or other species of concern. The VFHCP establishes the conditions under which KernCounty, the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), and otherProgram beneficiaries are seeking authorization to allow the taking of multiple federally and Stateprotectedspecies incidental to development and other land use activities within the historical range offederally protected plant and animal species, State-protected plant and animal species and/or other species of concern.During the mid- to late-1980s, a Southern San Joaquin Valley Interagency Team was formed todevelop strategies for conserving some of the remaining natural lands in the southern portion of theSan Joaquin Valley (Southern San Joaquin Valley Interagency Team 1987). The Interagency Teamincluded representatives from USFWS, BLM, CDFG, the California Energy Commission (CEC), andother agencies. It was the most extensive planning effort conducted for the assessment of biologicalresources of the southern San Joaquin Valley, an area that includes all the Program Area. TheVFHCP started soon after the Interagency Team developed a plan, with conceptual preserve areas andgoals. The plan focused on preservation of the best remaining natural lands, as well as connections inbetween, in several counties, including Kern County. The two highest priority classifications ofconceptual preserves were mapped in red (highest priority) and green (second highest priority). Asthe development of the VFHCP Program progressed, the original signers of the MOU felt it wasimportant to use the conservation goals of the interagency team and to preserve strategy as a basis forconservation, and to be consistent with that extensive planning effort. As such, the conceptualpreserve areas designed by the interagency team became the basis for the Red and Green Zoneswithin the VFHCP Program.The Program Area consists of three separate habitat zone categories based on habitat value. There areeight individual Red Zones (which contain the highest valued conservation habitat) ranging in sizefrom 527 acres to 53,307 acres. Cumulatively, the Red Zones total 132,463 acres. The total includesnative and natural habitat, as well as land currently in more intensive uses, such as cultivatedagriculture and commercial uses. Goals of the Program are to conserve in perpetuity 90 percent of theexisting natural lands in Red Zones and 75 percent of the existing natural lands in Green Zone. Thesepercentages are consistent with goals set forth by the interagency planning team described above(Southern San Joaquin Valley Interagency Team 1987). Red Zones represent the best contiguousblocks of undisturbed or lightly disturbed habitat for Covered Species. The preservation of theseareas is important enough to warrant a goal of undertaking conservation activities to ensure no morethan 10 percent additional disturbance to existing natural lands. The Green Zones are more extensivein area and contain some disturbance, but are important for movement of Covered Species among thecore Red Zones. Thus, the Endangered Species Working Group (the Steering Committee for the VFHCPProgram) decided upon a conservation strategy to ensure a preservation goal of 75 percent ofexisting natural lands, which is also consistent with the goals set forth by the Interagency Team.Much of the original work of the Interagency Team was based on 1988 aerial photographic coverage.Because the aerial analysis occurred more than 16 years ago, a review of possible land use changes inRed Zones was conducted in December 2003. Aerial photo coverage of the Semitropic and LokernRed Zones was obtained for the years 1992 and 2000. The two primary Red Zones were reviewed toassess the relative amounts of natural lands that had been converted to cultivated agriculture andother intensive uses. Less than one percent of the natural lands had been converted in the eight-yearperiod. Based on the results of that analysis, as well as a current assessment that the conservationareas have not been affected by incompatible use, boundaries for Red and Green Zones were notrevised. The habitat zones are the same as when the development of this Program began and continueto be viable for Covered Species conservation.Green Zones are located in areas that, because of terrain, lack of infrastructure, and their nonintensiveresource use, are not expected to develop with intensive resource uses. Considering thelimited amount of anticipated development in the Green Zones over the life of the Program, theremay not be enough disturbance to generate 75 percent conservation. The Green Zones are locatedaround the western, southern, and eastern edges of the Program Area and total 815,218 acres (total ofnative/natural habitat and more intensive uses). There are 1,033,307 acres in the White Zones whichconsist primarily of intensive agricultural areas.The Oil Zone is a fourth zone that is not exclusive of Red, Green, and White Zones. It is comprised ofall areas within the administrative boundaries of DOGGR-defined oil fields. It includes 493,464 acresof a combination of Red, Green, and White Zone lands in the VFHCP Program Area, as well as93,801 acres in the Metropolitan Bakersfield HCP area.