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(b) For purposes of this division and Chapter 7.5 icommencing with Section 2700) of DiVision 3 of the Fish and Game ° <br /> Code and the State General Obligation Bond Law, the Wildlit~ Conservation Board, the Department of Parks and Rec- <br /> reation, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Forestry, the Department of Fish and Game, the Santa <br /> Monica Mountains Conservancy, or the State Coastal Conservancy, depending on which agency has jurisdiction, is hereby <br /> designated as "the board." <br /> 5933. The committee shall determine whether or not it is necessary or desirable to issue bonds authorized pursuant <br /> to this division in order to carry out the actions specified in Section 5907 of this cede and Section 2720 of the Fish and <br /> Game Code, and, if so, the amount of bonds to be issued and sold. Successive issues of bonds may be authorized and sold <br /> to carry out those actions progressively, and it is not necessary that all of the bonds authorized to be issued be sold at any <br /> one time. <br /> 5934. Them shall be collected annually in the same manner and at the same time as other state revenue is collected, <br /> in addition to the ordinary revenues of the state, a sum in an amount required to pay the principal of, and interest on, <br /> the bonds each year, and it is the duty of all officers charged by law with any duty in regard to the collection of the revenue <br /> to do and perform each and every act which is necessary to collect that additional sum. <br /> 5935. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, there is hereby appropriated from the General Fund, <br /> for the purposes of this division, an amount that will equal the total of the following: <br /> ( 1 ) The sum annually necessary to pay the principal of, and interest on, bonds issued and sold pursuant to this division, <br /> as the principal and interest become due and payable. <br /> (2) The sum which is necessary to carry out the provisions of Section 5936, appropriated without regard to fiscal <br />years. <br /> 5936. For the purposes of carrying out this division and Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 2700) of Division 3 <br />of the Fish and Game Cede, the Director of Finance may authorize the withdrawal from the General Fund of an amount <br />or amounts not to exceed the amount of the unsold bonds which have been authorized to be sold for the purpose of carrying <br />out those provisions. Any amounts withdrawn shall be deposited in the California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land <br />Conservation Fund of 1988 or the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund, as appropriate. Any money made <br />available under this section shall be returned to the General Fund, plus the interest that the amounts would have earned <br />in the Pooled Money Investment Account, from money received from the sale of bonds which would otherwise be deposited <br />in that fund. <br /> 5937. All money derived from premium and accrued interest on bends sold shall be reserved and shall be available <br />for transfer to the General Fund as a credit to expenditures for bond interest. <br /> 5938, The people of California hereby find and declare that, inasmuch as the proceeds from the sale of bonds authorized <br />by this division are not "proceeds of taxes" as that term is used in Article XIII B of the California Constitution, the <br />disbursement of these proceeds is not subject to the limitation imposed by that article. <br /> SEC, 3, Chapter 7.5 {commencing with Section 2700) is added to Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code, to read: <br /> <br /> CHAPTER 7.5. WII.rILIFE AND NATURAL AREAS CONSERVATION PROGRAM <br /> Article 1. General Provisions <br /> 2700, This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Act. <br /> 2701, (a) The fundamental requirement for healthy, vigorous populations of fish and wildlife is habitat. Without <br />adequate habitat, efforts to conserve and manage fish and wildlife resources will have limited success. Further, California <br />contains the greatest diversity of wildlife and plant species of virtually any state in the nation. This rich natural heritage <br />enables Californians to enjoy a great variety of recreational, aesthetic, ecological, and other uses and benefits of these <br />biological resources. The public interest is served only by ensunng that these resources are preserved, protected, and <br />propagated for this and future generations. <br /> (b) Many of California's wildlife, fish, and plant species and biological communities are found nowhere else on earth. <br />Without adequate protection and management, rare native species and communities could easily become extinct. In such <br />an event, the benefits they provide to the people of California, whether presently realized or which remain to be discovered, <br />will be lost forever, and California will be significantly poorer as a result. <br /> (c) The people of California have vested in the Department of Fish and Game the principal responsibility for protecting, <br />conserving, and perpetuating native fish, plants, and wildlife, including endangered species and game animals, for their <br />aesthetic, intrinsic, ecological, educational, and economic values. To help accomplish this goal, the people of California <br />have further established a significant natural areas program and a natural diversity data base in the Department of Fish <br />and Game, which is charged with maintaining and perpetuating California's most significant natural areas for present <br />and future generations. To ensure the perpetuation of areas containing uncommon elements of natural diversity and to <br />ensure the continued abundance of habitat for more common species, especially examples of those which are presently <br />threatened with destruction, the purchase offand is often necessary. <br /> (d) Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to provide the Wildlife Conservation Board and the Department of Fish <br />and Game the financial means to correct the most severe deficiencies in wildlife habitat and in the statewide system of <br />areas designated for the preservation of California's natural diversity through a program of acquisition, enhancement, <br />restoration, and protection of areas that are most in need of proper conservation. <br /> 2702. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: <br /> (a) "Acquisition" means the acquiring of any interest in real property. <br /> (b) "Fund" means the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund created pursuant to Section 2720. <br /> (c) "Highly rare" means a worldwide rarity in which any species or natural community occurs in 50 or fewer locations, <br />irrespective of whether the species or any species in the community is listed as threatened or endangered or was previously <br />listed as rare. <br /> (d) "Natural community" means a distinct, identifiable. and recurring association of plants and animals that are <br />ecologically interrelated. <br /> (e) "Species" means the fundamental biological unit of plant and animal classification that comprises a subdivision <br />of a genus, but for the purposes of this chapter, "species" also includes the unit of a subspecies. <br /> <br /> Article 2. Habitat Conservation Program <br /> <br /> 2720, Moneys available for the purposes of this chapter pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 5930} of <br />Division 5.8 of the Public Resources Code shall be deposited in the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund, which <br />is hereby created. Money deposited in the fund shall be available for appropriation by the Legislature to the Wildlife <br />Conservation Board, for expenditure pursuant to the Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947, for the following programs: <br /> (a) Forty-one million dol!ars ($41,000,000) for the preservation of highly rare examples of the state's natural diversity <br />through the acquisition, enhancement, restoration, or protection. or a comb znation thereof. offands supporting C~ifornia'~ <br />unique, fragile, threatened, or endangered plants, animals, and natural communities. <br /> (b) Six million dollars ($6,000,000) for the acquisition, enhancement, restoration, or protection. or a combination <br />thereof, of critical habitat areas for fish, game mammals, and game birds, including, but not limited to, the following <br />types: <br /> {1) Winter deer ranges. <br /> (2}Wild trout or steelhead nursery and spawning areas. <br /> 13) Significant routes of migration for wildlife. <br /> (4) Breeding, nesting, and forage areas for sage grouse and other upland game birds. <br /> For purposes of this subdivision, "enhancement" includes the construction or development of facilities for furnishing <br />public access to lands or waters open to the public for fishing. hunting. or shooting. <br /> (c) Three million dollars i $3,000.000 ) for the acquisition. enhancement. restoration, or protection. or any combination <br />thereof, of lands providing habitat for threatened. endangered. or fully protected species. such as the b~ld eagle, San <br />Joaquin kit fox, desert tortoise, bighorn sheep. pere~ine falcon. and California condor. <br /> 2721. Funds available pursuant to subdivision l al of Section 2720 shall be expended to acquire, enhance. restore, or <br />protect lands in California on which any of the following naturally exists: <br /> !a) A unique species or natural community. whose existence at a single location in California is the only known <br />occurrence in the world of that particular species or natural community. <br /> (bi A species that occurs in only 20 or fewer locations in the world. at least one of which is in California. <br /> ~c~ A natural community that occurs in only 50 or fewer locations in the world. at least one of which is in California. <br /> td) An assemblage of three or more highly rare species or natural communities. or any combination thereof. of which <br />at least one of the species or natural communities is found only' in 20 or fewer locations in the world. <br /> <br /> <br />