Management:
Legal Protection

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

CEQA can provide protection for sensitive communities and species (Hillyard 2004). The Department of Fish and Game's Role in Environmental Review.

California Endangered Species Act (CESA)

California Endangered Species Act (CESA): Incidental Take of State Listed Species under the California Endangered Species Act (California Department of Fish & Game).

California Coastal Act Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA)

An Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA) is any area in which plant or animal life or their habitats are either rare or especially valuable because of their special nature or role in an ecosystem and which could be easily disturbed or degraded by human activities and developments (California Coastal Act 2010, Section 30107.5).

ESHA prohibits any significant disruption of 1) CDFG rare plant communities; 2) Federal and State listed species; 3) CNPS 1B listed plant species; 4) habitats that support listed species. (Engel, Jonna D., June 2007. Maritime chapparral in the context of the Coastal Act ).

Section 30107.5 Environmentally sensitive area “Environmentally sensitive area” means any area in which plant or animal life or their habitats are either rare or especially valuable because of their special nature or role in an ecosystem and which could be easily disturbed or degraded by human activities and developments (California Coastal Act).

Section 30240 Environmentally sensitive habitat areas; adjacent developments (a) Environmentally sensitive habitat areas shall be protected against any significant disruption of habitat values, and only uses dependent on those resources shall be allowed within those areas (California Coastal Act).

(b) Development in areas adjacent to environmentally sensitive habitat areas and parks and recreation areas shall be sited and designed to prevent impacts which would significantly degrade those areas, and shall be compatible with the continuance of those habitat and recreation areas (California Coastal Act).