Final Santa Cruz County RCIS Approved

Release of Santa Cruz County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy Supports Accelerated Actions to Conserve Local Biodiversity and Supports Efficient Transportation Project Delivery

RTC, in coordination with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County (RCD), announces the completion of the Santa County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (RCIS), which identifies key conservation opportunities and habitat enhancement actions within Santa Cruz County. The RCIS provides a comprehensive framework to direct conservation investments to the highest and best use and can create new funding opportunities for conserving the unique biodiversity of Santa Cruz County. The RCIS can also help expedite the delivery of transportation projects by facilitating regional advanced mitigation allowing public agencies to invest mitigation funds and receive efficient project approvals, if proposed conservation or enhancement actions achieve RCIS goals.

Developed through a multi-stage process between 2020 and 2022, the Santa Cruz County RCIS, synthesizes and builds upon prior conservation research and plans. It was developed with extensive input from the community including local, state, and federal resource agencies and organizations; stakeholders from a variety of sectors including representatives from conservation and transportation; technical advisors with expertise in biological system and species in the RCIS Area; and the broader public.

The RCIS provides a framework for protecting biodiversity and sustaining natural ecological systems by addressing key conservation elements, development of strategies that benefit entire assemblages of species and support ecosystem functions in ways often not achieved when focusing on single species. As a voluntary, non-binding guidance document, the RCIS will be implemented through the actions of many agencies, organizations, and individuals seeking to conduct conservation projects through a variety of mechanisms. The RCIS was prepared following the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) RCIS program guidelines. CDFW approved the Final Santa Cruz County RCIS in April 2023.

For additional information on the SCCRCIS, visit the SCCRCIS website: https://sccrtc.org/funding-planning/environmental-planning/regional-conservation-investment-strategy/ or the RCD website: https://www.rcdsantacruz.org/rcis

For more information on the RCIS program, visit the CDFW RCIS website: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Planning/Regional-Conservation.