The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California’s climate is changing. Rising temperatures, increases in the frequency and severity of extreme events like drought and wildfire, changing ocean conditions, and shifts in precipitation patterns all pose threats to California’s wildlife. These changes are shifting the habitat ranges of many California species, requiring these species to migrate to different latitudes or altitudes to locate suitable habitat necessary to survive.

(b) Land use is also changing as the state‘s population continues to grow. Habitat conversion and fragmentation forces many California species to migrate in search of replacement habitat, and it also risks continued survival of species by compromising genetic diversity, among other things.

(c) California wildlife is losing the ability to move and migrate as habitat conversion and built infrastructure disrupt species habitat and cut off migration corridors.

(d) Habitat connectivity and wildlife migratory corridors are essential to the continued survival of many California species. Their importance will only grow as California wildlife increasingly migrates in response to climate change and resulting shifts in habitat suitability.

(e) Habitat connectivity is also necessary to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, which put people and wildlife at risk of injury or death.

(f) The department has several existing programs that can be used to promote habitat connectivity. It is the intent of the Legislature to expand, or clarify, two of these programs, Chapter 7.9 (commencing with Section 1797) and Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 1850), to facilitate creation and issuance of mitigation credits for actions that improve wildlife connectivity.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 738, Sec. 1. (SB 790) Effective January 1, 2022.)