Hills For Everyone signed on early to this Southern California Conservation Coalition for both the 2012 and 2016 Plans.  Here is the most recent announcement from the Coalition Coordinator, Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks:

We are thrilled to announce that the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) certified the Program Environmental Impact Report and adopted the 2016 Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy at yesterday’s meeting.  

Thank you to Saddlback Canyons Conservancy, Friends of Coyote Hills, and California Native Plant Society (Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter) for participating yesterday with us. 

The Natural and Farmlands Appendix has great potential to move our individual and collective conservation efforts forward. The four main polices include: 

• Expanding on the Natural Resource Inventory Database and Conservation Framework & Assessment by incorporating strategic mapping layers to build the database and further refine the priority conservation areas.
• Encouraging CTCs to develop advance mitigation programs or include them in future transportation measures.
• Aligning with funding opportunities and pilot programs to begin implementation of the Conservation Plan through acquisition and restoration.
• Providing incentives to jurisdictions that cooperate across county lines to protect and restore natural habitat corridors, especially where corridors cross county boundaries.

Now for the fun part.  We’ll need to roll up our sleeves and work closely with SCAG to implement these policies over the next four years!  Thank you for being part of the Coalition.