Reserve Management Plan (2008)

The 131 pg. Reserve Management Plan is available for downloading.

The Management Plan for Conservation Lands and Adjacent Campus Buildout Lands for the University of California, Merced (2008), was prepared by Dan A. Airola for the Physical and Environmental Planning Department, University of California, Merced.

 

This Management Plan (Plan) describes the management policy and actions for

lands owned and protected by the University of California (UC), and other

mitigation lands that have contributed to the establishment of the UC Merced

(UCM) Campus. These lands comprise the following categories:

 

1. UCM Conservation Lands (Tier 1a Lands). Lands owned by UC and

committed for long-term management by UCM for conservation purposes

under conservation easements; these lands comprise the Virginia Smith Trust

(VST) Preserve and Campus Natural Reserve (CNR). This plan also includes

the Myers Easterly property as part of the UCM Conservation Lands. This

area is owned jointly by the UC and VST, and will be managed by UCM as a

Tier 1a mitigation area.

2. CST Conservation Lands (Tier 1b Lands). The Cyril Smith Trust (CST)

lands that are currently owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and would

be protected by a conservation easement.

3. Tier 2 Conservation Lands. Five properties not owned in fee title by UC or

conservation entities, but for which conservations easements have been

acquired.

4. Adjacent Campus Buildout Lands. UC lands designated for future use as

the UCM Campus that are located adjacent to the UCM Conservation Lands.

 

This Plan is intended to meet various project requirements, including

development of an Adaptive Management Plan, set forth in the Biological

Opinion (BO) issued for the project (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2002) and

the conservation easement for the VST Preserve lands. The plan will serve for an

extended period, assumed at approximately 20 years, although it incorporates

adaptive changes and periodic reviews to adjust management.The Plan does not address interim management of lands previously designated as

the University Community, including those recently proposed for addition to the

campus. Similarly, the Plan does not address management of lands to be

acquired for wetland restoration and creation, which will be addressed in the

forthcoming Final Compensatory Wetland Mitigation and Monitoring Plan.

The Plan recognizes that management needs for different lands vary depending

on resource values, regulatory requirements, location, ownership, and proposed

uses. UCM Conservation Lands and Adjacent Campus Buildout Lands are

addressed together in this Plan because their ownership by UCM allows greater

management flexibility and application of adaptive management.

Reliance on a conservation easement to protect CST Conservation Lands will

limit management options for this property. Because the proposed easement has

not yet been developed, the specific terms of the easement are not known.

General discussion with TNC and the agencies regarding easement provisions

and examination of easement documents for Tier 2 Conservation Lands have

provided a basis for initial description of the likely easement conditions and

resulting management program. This component of the Plan will likely require

revision once the specific provisions of the CST easement are determined.

Management of the Tier 2 Conservation Lands is defined by terms of the

conservation easements. Management provisions for these lands have been

included in this Plan as Appendix A.

The Plan addresses policies regarding various land uses and management

commitments to protect and maintain conservation values consistent with

regulatory commitments and requirements for the UCM project. The Plan is

anticipated to guide all future management, but is also designed to respond

adaptively to changing conditions associated with campus development,

regulatory requirements, and the results of monitoring.

Background on the project and its compliance history and requirements is

available in the Proposed Conservation Strategy for the UC Merced Project (ICF

Jones & Stokes 2008) (Conservation Strategy). Importantly, the BO for the

project, issued in 2002 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS),

identified a set of required parameters, which included preparation of the

Conservation Strategy. One element of the strategy was the preparation of a

management plan for mitigation lands.

 

Parameter 1 of the BO requires that:
The Applicants will prepare and implement, in coordination with USFWS
and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), a comprehensive
strategy for the conservation of the San Joaquin kit fox, vernal pool
branchiopods and plants and other protected species to guide the
development and implementation of specific conservation for the Proposed
Actions…
Parameter 1 also specifies that:
The Conservation Strategy will include monitoring and adaptive
management measures and be consistent with and intended to implement
the Recovery Plan for Upland Species of the San Joaquin Valley, and any
future federal recovery planning effort.
The Conservation Strategy, to which this Plan contributes, identifies 13 target
species for conservation. Of these species, the nine species listed below are
known to occur on conservation lands and are the focus of management attention.