Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA, 96050, USA.
University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA, 94117, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Aug;366:121674. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121674. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Planning development while minimizing negative impacts to sensitive habitats poses a challenge for global natural resource management. After impacts from development are avoided and minimized, remaining adverse impacts may be offset using compensatory mitigation. Along the California coast, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) regulates development and subsequent mitigation for allowable impacts. We reviewed publicly available CCC staff reports for approved projects that impacted coastal habitats and required compensatory mitigation from 2010 to 2018. The median project size was approximately 728 square meters and almost all permanent impacts were mitigated at a >1:1 ratio, with regional and habitat-specific planning regulations driving some variation across the state. We found that wetlands were the most frequently impacted and had higher mitigation ratios. Temporary impacts were almost always mitigated at a 1:1 ratio. While most mitigation was on-site and in-kind, mitigation that was required off-site had a median distance of 4.7 km from the site of impact. Restoration was the most frequent mitigation action, over creation, enhancement, or preservation, but proportions of each action varied across habitat types. While our findings suggest no net loss of habitat area within the California Coastal Zone, the net change in ecosystem function is dependent on the performance of the mitigation projects. This review is only the first step in evaluating the success of compensatory mitigation along California's coast.
在最小化对敏感栖息地的负面影响的同时规划发展，这对全球自然资源管理提出了挑战。在避免和最小化发展的影响之后，剩余的不利影响可以通过补偿性缓解来抵消。在加利福尼亚海岸，加利福尼亚海岸委员会（CCC）监管着允许影响的开发和随后的缓解。我们审查了 2010 年至 2018 年期间影响沿海栖息地并需要补偿性缓解的已批准项目的公开可用 CCC 工作人员报告。项目规模中位数约为 728 平方米，几乎所有永久性影响都以>1:1 的比例得到缓解，区域和特定栖息地的规划法规在全州范围内产生了一些差异。我们发现湿地是最常受影响的栖息地，缓解比例也最高。临时影响几乎总是以 1:1 的比例得到缓解。虽然大多数缓解措施是现场和实物补偿，但需要场外补偿的补偿措施与影响地点的中位数距离为 4.7 公里。恢复是最常见的缓解措施，超过了创建、增强或保护，但每种措施的比例在不同的栖息地类型中有所不同。虽然我们的研究结果表明加利福尼亚沿海地区没有净损失的栖息地面积，但生态系统功能的净变化取决于缓解项目的表现。本审查只是评估加利福尼亚沿海补偿性缓解成功的第一步。
