February, 2025
In this Issue:
Senators Blakespear and Stern Introduce Bill to Protect the Habitat Conservation Fund
Prop 4 Climate Bond Update & Funding Opportunities
Ask Your Mayor to Take the Monarch Pledge
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Temescal Ranch, formerly the largest privately owned natural area in Los Angeles County, connects more than 800,000 acres of public lands along the Los Angeles and Los Padres National Forests. This project restores critical habitat and creates a substantial public open space for recreation and conservation less than an hour from Downtown LA. The Temescal Ranch project received over 4 million in combined HCF-funded grant dollars.
Senators Blakespear and Stern Introduce SB 427 to Protect the Habitat Conservation Fund
Senators Blakespear and Stern have introduced SB 427, which would remove the July 1, 2030 sunset date for the Habitat Conservation Fund (HCF). The HCF was established under Proposition 117(the California Wildlife Protection Act), a ballot measure championed by PCL and passed by voters in June 1990. Since then, the Fund has protected over 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat and improved public access to more than 350 park projects across California.
Prop 117 directed the annual transfer of $30 million from the state’s General Fund into the Conservation Fund, to be distributed by State Parks and the Wildlife Conservation Board. While the ballot language initially expired in 2020, the Legislature and Governor took action in 2019 to extend the Fund’s sunset to 2030. Now, SB 427 proposes to eliminate the sunset entirely, creating a permanent source of funding for critical conservation efforts across the state.
In recent years, state budgetary pressures have led lawmakers to consider discontinuing the Fund. Last year, the Governor’s initial Budget recommendations attempted to end the General Fund transfers to the HCF six years early, however PCL, our legal advisors and allies, and you, our members, quickly responded; we let legislators and the Governor know that the citizen-created HCF is needed to support wildlife in the face of climate change and that the will of the voters stands with California’s critical habitat. We succeeded in keeping the Fund intact.
The program has recently funded projects across the state, including the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing – over Highway 101 in Agoura Hills, connecting the Santa Monica Mountains with inland habitats, a new trails gateway into Redwood National and State Parks, and an ancestral land-return project in San Bernardino County.
“The value of the Habitat Conservation Fund has been demonstrated over and over again,” Sen. Blakespear said. “We’ve seen how consequential this funding is to safeguard open spaces, restore habitat and protect vital wildlife refuges. SB 427 will ensure that this important fund continues for decades to come.”
“California voters in 1990 had no way of knowing just how prescient their support for creation of the Habitat Conservation Fund was when they voted yes on Prop 117,” said Beth Pratt, Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation. “Since that time, more than a billion dollars has been invested to protect more than 1.2 million acres of wildlife habitat, restoring critical ecosystems, open spaces, wildlife corridors, as well as improving public access to more than 350 local and regional parks projects across California. The Habitat Conservation Fund has a proven track record and should be made permanent.”
SB 427 was introduced by Senator Catherine Blakespear and Senator Henry Stern and is co-authored by Senator Ben Allen, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, and Assemblymember Ash Kalra. SB 427 is co-sponsored by Audubon California and NWF, with strong support from PCL. Over the past couple of years, close to Nearly 60 environmental and conservation organizations have helped to defeat efforts to sunset the Fund early and eliminate funding proposed in budget negotiations in recent years, and PCL looks forward to reawakening this coalition for a new proactive effort this year.
Protecting this necessary, consistent, and reliable revenue source for conservation efforts is critical for California’s diverse communities and biodiversity. SB 427 is expected to be heard in its first policy committee in late March or early April. If your organization wants to sign-on to support SB 427, email PCL’s staff to learn how.
Prop 4 Climate Bond Update and Funding Opportunities – State Wants Your Feedback On Grants Process and to Get More Groups in the Loop Early
PCL and more than 800 representatives of other organizations and local citizen efforts joined the first two climate bond webinars held in the last week of January by the California Natural Resources Agency (CRNA), one of several state agencies tasked with investing funds from the 10 billion dollar Climate Bond, Proposition 4, passed by voters this past November. If you or your local organization are interested in potential funding for habitat, wildlife, and climate-related projects, you can watch the recorded webinar here.
On the call, Secretary Crowfoot indicated the Governor’s interest in seeing bond funding go out rapidly, with as much as $2.5 billion eyed for this next fiscal year. The Yes on Prop 4 campaign has a fact sheet highlighting some of the key funding priorities of the Climate Bond.
Between the two webinars, the environmental representatives in attendance provided the CNRA with significant input on the bond rollout. CRNA staff heard that a two-step application process would be welcomed to allow less initial investment of time, that more straightforward, streamlined application processes with consistency across government agencies are appreciated, and that public forums to provide feedback outside normal working hours are needed to reach more leaders and voices.
CNRA staff want more input on making this the most simple and inclusive climate bond process yet. If you have the bandwidth, staff are still soliciting questionnaire answers to identify priority improvements for the climate bond process. The survey will be open through April 18, 2025, and is accessible at the link below.
Survey: California Climate Bond: Grant Programs Feedback.
CRNA staff also stressed that while they are eager to mobilize bond funding, they are just getting started in efforts to reach the people and places who most need it, and they want more groups to be able to participate in funding opportunities. You can encourage friends and colleagues to sign up for updates here: California Natural Resources Agency.
PCL was a proud supporter of the 2024 Climate Bond, and we continue our work to make sure wise investments toward a more livable California are priorities in future funding.
Monarch Butterfly Release
Ask Your Mayor to take the Monarch Pledge!
PCL has worked on wildlife conservation since our founding in 1965, including our work as the California affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). NWF’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge is a transnational coalition of communities, mayors, and heads of local and tribal governments recognized across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in efforts to sustain the monarch butterfly population for generations to come. Its success is crucial to our efforts to protect and restore California’s western monarch population.
The migration of monarch butterflies is one of the most epic journeys in the natural world, and we in California are proud to be a part of it. Western monarchs fly as much as a thousand or more miles from their summer homes in western backyards and grasslands to wintering grounds along California’s coast. Unfortunately, monarch butterfly populations have plummeted alarmingly in recent years. This decline threatens to deprive future generations of the wonder and beauty of the monarchs’ journey and is an ominous sign of the worsening health of ecosystems. Of all monarch populations, the western monarch has seen especially significant declines in the past few decades. Less than one percent of the western monarch population remains.
Monarchs need all of us to make our homes, businesses, schools, and community spaces more monarch and wildlife-friendly. Towns, cities, and counties have a critical role to play to help save the monarch butterfly. Municipalities can provide monarch habitat at public parks, median strips, community gardens, and municipal buildings. City properties like recreation centers and libraries can host demonstration gardens and serve as community hubs where residents can learn how to help. Communities can change ordinances and adapt their comprehensive plans to support the recovery of the monarch butterfly. Educating residents about how and where to grow milkweed is also key to success. By working with municipal mayors, local, state, and national partners, we will restore and enhance habitat for monarchs and other wildlife, right where people live, work, learn, and play.
The Mayors’ Monarch Pledge accepts new pledges through March 31 this year. To see if your community has joined the pledge, visit NWF’s signatories page. Over two dozen California communities have joined, but mainly on the coast – we absolutely need more inland cities and towns to join these critical efforts to sustain and restore our western monarchs. If you or your community group would like to ask your mayor to take the pledge, NWF’s website below has resources to help you.
To implement the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge in your community, the program involves three main steps:
- Take the online pledge between December 1 and March 31 each year and select at least 3 action items out of 30 that your community will work on related to monarch conservation.
- Initiate the specified actions your community selected throughout the year.
- Track and report your progress by submitting an annual report by December 1.
Visit www.nwf.org/MayorsMonarchPledge for more information and access to our FAQs.
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