The California Department of Fish and Game is holding a virtual public workshop this Monday, March 10th on the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, and an update on the Act and the draft Plan has members of the Yucca Valley Town Council encouraging residents to show up and provide their feedback.
At Tuesday’s Yucca Valley Town Council meeting, Deputy Town Manager Shane Steuckle presented an update on the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, along with the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan and the potential costs a civil engineering consulting firm says the it could cost property owners.
As the proposed draft Plan stands now, “mitigation fees” would be charged to a property owner if they wanted to do improvements such as replacement of a septic, connect to sewer or any other “ground disturbance” within 50 feet of a Western Joshua Tree. Stueckle says that the 50-foot buffer zone includes neighboring properties as well.
The Town of Yucca Valley requested three reports on the potential cost of improvements on example properties in Yucca Valley. A property on Amador Avenue was presented as a typical Yucca Valley home for the area with approximately 74 individual western joshua trees growing on it. The estimated mitigation fees that would be issued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as the act stands today would be $46,700 – according to Coachella Valley based civil engineering firm MSA Consulting.
The fee amount was estimated through “an approximate count and height of Western Joshua Trees” observed from the street and in aerial photos. The firm refers to this as “right of way photography.”
The update provided to the council also referred to the weeks or months that a Western Joshua Tree “take permit” can add to a potential project.
During the business development update, Steuckle says that some businesses such as the Southern Oregon based coffee retailer Dutch Bros. are currently in a “holding pattern” as the site for their new build has Western Joshua Trees within that 50-foot buffer.
The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan is expected to be implemented by June, and the first in what is expected to be a series of feedback sessions is taking place this Monday, March 10th. Yucca Valley Town Staff and council members encouraged residents who are concerned about the potential impacts to show up and provide feedback.
The town is presenting its own letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife with its concerns, and Steuckle referred to the possibility of the town taking on some of the burden for property owners through a town-wide take permit that could potentially save property owners and developers time. However, Stueckle says that any significant changes to the proposed plan and the mitigation fees will most likely be done through legislation.
Council members encouraged the general public to show up to one of the two virtual public meeting this Monday, March 10th.
Here is a link to the entire Agenda Packet for the 3/4/25 Yucca Valley Town Council meeting.
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