Administrative changes are internal changes or corrections to the Plan that do not require authorization from the Wildlife Agencies such as day-to-day implementation decisions, changes to monitoring protocols to conform to new or changed Wildlife Agency protocols. The automatic annual fee adjustments for inflation and the 5-year periodic review of development fees is an administrative change.
Minor modifications are changes that do not affect the impact assessment or conservation strategy and do not affect the ability of the PCA to achieve the biological goals and objectives of the Plan. Minor modifications do not require an amendment to the permits, but they do require approval by the Wildlife Agencies. Examples of minor modifications include changes in conservation measures where such changes are consistent with achieving Covered Species, natural community, and overall Plan goals and minor changes to the reporting protocol. Changes in the land acquisition strategy may be necessary to address changing land use patterns in the Plan Area or a lack of willing sellers in conservation zones; changes in land protection requirements within a zone that amount to less than 10 percent of the original acreage are considered minor modifications as long as the overall target protection acreage does not change, changes between zones are biologically equivalent or superior, do not significantly affect the ability of the PCA to meet the Plan’s biological goals and objectives.
Amendments are changes that may affect the conservation strategy in the Plan. Amendments to the Plan will also require an amendment to the permits and hence will follow a formal state and federal review process. Examples of changes that would require an amendment include changing the Plan Area boundary, the list of Covered Species or Covered Activities, increasing the allowable take limit, or modifying any important component of the conservation strategy.
Adapting to the Future
The 2017 Placer County Conservation Plan reflects the best information available at the time the Plan was developed. The Plan provides for implementation to overcome planning stage limitations: Ground level survey and high accuracy delineation will be used for project review. Monitoring results will be used for adaptive management to improve applied conservation techniques and to respond to changing regional trends, including those associated with global climate change. The Permittees will be responsible for implementing and funding measures needed to respond to reasonably foreseeable changed circumstances spelled out in the Plan. Accordingly, a portion of the Plan implementation budget is allocated to deal with events such as wild fire, drought, flooding, and disease that would affect reserve management and protected populations of Covered Species. Should unforeseen circumstances requiring additional mitigation arise once the permit is in place, the federal No Surprises Regulation provides assurances to the Permittees that no additional money, commitments, or restrictions of land or water will be required. The Plan sets thresholds for unforeseen circumstances.