Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority Endowment Provided by the Puente Hills Landfill MEMORANDUM Date: March 18, 2021 To: Board Members From: Andrea Gullo, Executive Director Subject: Agenda Item No. 7) Discussion and possible action supporting legislation including authorizing Authority letters of support for California Senate Bill 266 Expanding Chino Hills State Park. Recommendation: That the Board support Senate Bill (SB) 266. Background: On January 28, 2021, California Senate Bill 266 was introduced which would add about 1,500 acres to the existing Chino Hills State Park footprint while protecting the watershed for wildlife and plants, and preserving the current views enjoyed by visitors. Please see the attached fact sheet, as well as the full text of the bill. This bill is consistent with the mission of the Authority as it contributes to the preservation and protection of the biological diversity of the Puente Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor which supports the Puente Hills. Should the Board decide to support this bill, this would enable Authority staff and/or the Chair to promptly submit support letters at appropriate times in the future. Fiscal Impact: None. Attachments: SB 266 Fact sheet Text of SB 266 SENATOR JOSH NEWMAN (SD-29) State Capitol, Room 4066 Sacramento, CA 95814 203 N. Harbor Blvd Fullerton, CA 92832 https://sd29.senate.ca.gov/ SB 266 (Newman): Expanding Chino Hills State Park Sponsor: Hills For Everyone Staff Contact: Erin Carvalho, (916) 651-4029 SUMMARY SB 266 would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to incorporate three parcels of land into Chino Hills State Park that have been identified for acquisition and preservation through local conservation efforts. No state appropriation would be necessary for the purchase of these three parcels – one of the parcels is a donation and existing federal, state, and private funding sources have been identified for the acquisition of the other two parcels. As a matter of official policy, DPR has long been directed to prioritize land acquisitions as a component of the State Park General Plan, but has not yet acted on the plan. This bill conforms to the plan’s goals, while preserving natural lands, expanding wildlife connectivity, protecting biodiversity, and fulfilling a 2008 court- mandated settlement agreement with a local conservation group. ISSUE Chino Hills State Park is one of the 280 state park units managed by the DPR. It is located in the hills around Santa Ana Canyon and straddles the counties of Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino, four of California’s most populous counties. The Park has well over 300,000 annual visitors and lies within the densely populated Los Angeles Basin, with more than seven million people within a 25-mile radius. The first acquisitions for the area which eventually became Chino Hills State Park occurred in 1981, through the protection of 2,237 acres in the southeastern corner of the San Gabriel Valley. Additional acquisitions soon followed, and Chino Hills Park today encompasses 14,173 acres. Because of Chino Hills State Park, Southern Californians are able to explore and experience an unparalleled natural environment, enjoy its campgrounds and hike, bike, and ride on the park’s more than 90 miles of trails. The lands that comprise Chino Hills State Park also form a critical link in the 31-mile long Puente-Chino Hills biological corridor, linking remaining undeveloped habitats in an otherwise heavily urbanized region. Habitat fragmentation is a leading cause of species endangerment or extinction, and biological corridors help maintain healthy populations of plants and animals by allowing genetic exchange, species migration, and repopulation following catastrophes. Chino Hills State Park is home to more than 200 species of birds and mammals, many reptiles and amphibians, and thousands of species of insects and invertebrates. Several of these species or subspecies are deemed threatened, endangered, or specially protected, including the California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica), the Least Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), and the California mountain lion (Puma concolor). The park is also home to vulnerable plant communities, including the California black walnut tree and Tecate cypress. Beyond wildlife, the Park offers more than 90 miles of trails through valleys, woodlands, sage scrubs and grasslands, in addition to campgrounds and equestrian facilities. SB 266 would instruct DPR to receive and incorporate three adjacent land parcels with willing sellers or donors into Chino Hills State Park. The largest of the three is a 1,200-acre parcel known as “First National Investment Properties.” This parcel, though not currently part of the park, nevertheless falls within a part of the park designated by the Chino Hills State Park General Plan as a “Core Habitat Zone.” This zone includes sensitive wildlife habitats crucial to the movement and survival of many plant and animal species, and the siting of this parcel has the effect of cutting off two existing parts of the park from the park’s core acreage. A portion of this parcel is comprised of walnut woodland, one of California’s rare and imperiled natural communities. The second of the three parcels is a 300-acre parcel known as “Chino Hills 300.” The existing park and the First National Investment Properties parcel surround it. This parcel also is part of the Chino Hills State park’s General Plan, designated as a Natural Open Space Zone. The third parcel, the smallest of the three, is an 11-acre walnut woodland parcel known as the Beattie Property. This parcel borders the park on two sides and also is located within the Core Habitat Zone. The owner would like to donate this parcel to Chino Hills State Park. DPR has failed to acquire and incorporate additional land into the State Park system for more than a decade – even those lands identified as a priority, with willing sellers, and with funding for acquisition and management identified or secured. The expansion of the park, as directed by SB 266, also will fulfill a settlement agreement which DPR entered into in 2008. When the local metropolitan water district proposed an access road through the State Park, DPR supported the project in exchange for $1.6 million in funding. In response, Hills for Everyone, a local grass roots conservation group (and the sponsor of this bill), successfully filed suit, with the resulting settlement agreement explicitly providing for the acquisition of additional land for the State Park. The three properties specified for incorporation in SB 266 would add about 1,500 acres to the existing park footprint while protecting the watershed for the wildlife and plants and preserving the current sweeping, unspoiled views enjoyed by visitors to this unique natural public asset. The 1979 Chino Hills Feasibility Study, approved by the Legislature prior to the creation of the Park, identified 30,000 acres of the Chino Hills as suitable for inclusion into the state park system. The two larger parcels in question have been included as priority acquisitions in the Park’s General Plan for decades. If the opportunity to acquire these properties is missed, these parcels likely will be sold to private developers. Private development would create additional challenges and associated costs to the park in the form of increased likelihood of wildfires, ecological damage from off-roading and other environmentally damaging activities, impairment of the park’s natural seclusion, and lost park revenues as the result of unregulated additional access points into the park via unoccupied private property. The net result would be substantially damaging to the efforts and investments made to date that have made Chino Hills State Park one of the “hidden gems” in the state’s park system. SOLUTION SB 266 would instruct DPR to acquire and manage these three land acquisitions immediately as part of the previously articulated goals of expanding and improving Chino Hills State Park. Incorporating these available adjacent parcels into Chino Hills State Park also will help California achieve the recently announced goal of preserving 30 percent of the state’s land and coastal waters by the year 2030, as articulated in Governor Newsom’s 2020 historic executive order. SB 266 represents a small but meaningful step towards meeting that worthy goal, as well as an integral step in the fulfillment of the park’s General Plan and the continuation of its mission. SUPPORT Hills For Everyone (Sponsor) City of Chino Hills (Updated 2.23.21) SENATE BILL No. 266 Introduced by Senator Newman (Coauthor: Assembly Member Chen) January 28, 2021 An act to add Section 5015.8 to the Public Resources Code, relating to state parks. legislative counsel’s digest SB 266, as introduced, Newman. State park system: Chino Hills State Park: expansion. Existing law designates all parks, public campgrounds, monument sites, landmark sites, and sites of historical interest established or acquired by the state, or that are under its control, as the state park system, except as speci®ed. Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation controls the state park system, which is made up of units, one of which is the Chino Hills State Park. This bill would require the department to provide assistance acquiring and accepting land immediately adjacent to, and that expands, Chino Hills State Park, by transferring 3 speci®ed properties into the state park system. The bill would require the department to manage the acquired properties and parcels with speci®ed funds as part of the Chino Hills State Park, as provided. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.​ State-mandated local program: no.​ The people of the State of California do enact as follows: line 1 SECTION 1. Section 5015.8 is added to the Public Resources line 2 Code, to read: 99 SB 266 Ð 2 Ð line 1 5015.8.