Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan accepted at California Fish and Game Commission

The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan was formally accepted yesterday by the Fish and Game Commission. 

The first of its kind document has been in front of the commission multiple times since February of this year, but it’s been continued due to the amount of public comment and concern from residents who say they’ll be primarily affected by the take permit fees that the legislative act requires. 

In each of the commission meetings since February, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham has set the table regarding the plan, urging the commission to accept the document despite and because of its iterative nature. That trend continued at yesterday’s meeting.

Chuck Bonham: “Since February, the department has also been listening and we’ve been keeping track of some of the major concerns raised. We’ve been trying in each of your successive meetings to update you on progress on those topics that appear to be pretty consistent. 

Bonham laid out some of the major changes to the plan since the last meeting in June, including actions in Yucca Valley regarding the sewer system that reflects some of the behind-the-scenes dealings between state and city entities.

“The Hi-Desert Water District had a groundbreaking celebration. Many had been concerned it was going to be permanently stalled, determining how that effort interfaced with Western Joshua Tree Conservation. (That’s) no longer the case… property owners will have to pay for their lateral connections… the sewer main to their house, but they won’t be asked to approve another assessment district to fund construction because the State Water Resources Control Board has approved $103 million in funding to get everybody hooked up. 

The individual homeowners aren’t going to have to pay Western Joshua Tree study costs, fees, or encroachment responsibility. So we’re talking hundreds of people which had fostered into some of the organized debate in front of you being very critical that this public safety, public water project was going to get frozen or force higher costs on citizens. It’s not the case. We worked it out.”

Bonham then moved on to adjustments to the relocation guidelines, namely if you’re a single-family homeowner and your project impacts less than 10 acres of Joshua Tree habitat and requires the removal of less than 75 Joshua Trees, you won’t be on the hook for relocating any of those trees. 

Stay tuned to Z107.7 later this week for a story regarding those comments, including concerns from residents about commercial projects that seemingly get to sidestep much of the criteria in the plan regarding the conservation of the Western Joshua Tree. 

Until then, you can review the updated draft of the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan on the CDFW’s website, which was unanimously accepted at the conclusion of yesterday’s discussion.