State Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis) and Assemblymember Bill Dodd (D-Napa) have introduced Senate Bill 1396 to establish the Northern Inner Coast Range State Conservancy.

State Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis) and Assemblymember Bill Dodd (D-Napa) have introduced Senate Bill 1396 to establish the Northern Inner Coast Range State Conservancy.

The bill is also being coauthored by state Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Marc Levine.

Participation in the conservancy would be optional, and decided at the county level.

Counties eligible for inclusion are all or part of Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Trinity, Tehama and Yolo counties.

Tuleyome, a regional conservation organization based in Woodland, is a strong supporter of a state conservancy for our region.

The group is making a presentation on the Northern Inner Coast Range proposal to the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.

“A Northern Inner Coast Range Conservancy can bring additional funding and local collaboration in the region for conservation protection and economic development,” said Bob Schneider, senior policy director for Tuleyome.

“Our model is the Sierra Nevada Conservancy that plays an important collaborative role working with local governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations and others and offers additional opportunities for additional state funds, proposition bond funds and other grant opportunities,” Schneider said. “It is time that the region receives its fair share of funding for conservation and remediation projects, and economic development.”

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, mayor of the city of Winters, added, “Our region needs to be at the table to help plan and develop the Inner Coast Range Conservancy. The funding for projects like this is given only to those that are part of a conservancy. Currently Yolo, Lake, Colusa and others are not included in one, thus we are unable to apply for those funds to meet our local needs. We need a conservancy in order to compete for local funding and give us a strong local voice.”

Read the full article HERE.