What this permitting pathway covers

A Restoration Consistency Determination (CD) may substitute for “incidental take” permit coverage for species that are listed under both the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) and the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

If a project has received incidental take coverage under the USFWS Statewide Restoration Programmatic Biological Opinion (PBO), the NMFS PBOs listed on the right side of this page, another Programmatic Incidental Take Statement/Biological Opinion (see more below) that has been pre-approved by CDFW, an individual project Incidental Take Statement/Biological Opinion, or a federal Incidental Take Permit, Fish and Game Code Section 2080.1.(a) allows CDFW to issue a project-specific Consistency Determination within 30 days of submission of the request, with no fees for voluntary habitat restoration projects, if those federal authorizations are consistent with CESA.

The Restoration CD cannot be used for Fully Protected Species. If your project may need take coverage for Fully Protected Species, consider using the CDFW Restoration Management Permit (RMP).

Restoration Consistency Determination (CD) using a Programmatic Biological Opinion (PBO)

CDFW worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Restoration Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a new process for issuing CDs for restoration projects (Restoration CDs) that have received approvals pursuant to a federal programmatic biological opinion (PBO) for restoration.

This process involves CDFW’s “pre-approval” of restoration PBOs to ensure general consistency with CESA coupled with an expedited review of project-specific applications. Under this process, conflicts between CESA and the PBO are resolved at the front end, resulting in an expedited CD process that focuses solely on project-specific review of a federal application for consistency with the PBO.

Project-specific CDs are issued within 30 days of submission of the request.

Fees

Under existing law, CDs for voluntary restoration projects are exempt from CESA fees (Fish and Game Code 2081.2(b)(2)(C)). As defined in Fish and Game Code 2081.2 (a)(6)(A-B), “Voluntary habitat restoration project” means a project of which the primary purpose is voluntary habitat restoration, and is not part of a regulatory settlement, a regulatory enforcement action, or a court order.

Click HERE to watch the part of CDFW’s Cutting Green Tape Permitting Workshop on this topic, from March 3, 2021