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July 11, 2007 Page 2 In addition, while there are local conservation programs in eastern Alameda County that are preserving endangered species and habitat, they lack the benefit of a coordinated approach and vision that is broadly supported by local stakeholders and regulatory agencies. Some conservation programs have significant funds to contribute to broad regional conservation efforts, but lack adequate direction on where and how to spend these funds to maximize benefits to natural communities. An approach that would facilitate coordination and expedite many mitigation projects and conservation programs currently underway is to develop a regional conservation strategy. The conservation strategy would coordinate an approach to mitigation for voluntary use by project proponents in the environmental permitting process. As the conservation strategy will be developed by and with the regulatory agencies, the result will be a regional conservation strategy formally approved by those agencies. This will substantially reduce uncertainty in the permitting process, if local agencies and private developers follow the conservation strategy in their permitting process, and will result in negotiations with regulatory agencies that will be expedited and streamlined. It will assist early planning for local agencies and private developers by having pre-designated conservation areas appropriate for mitigation for particular species or habitats, prescribed ratios for mitigation, and generalized cost estimates related to acquisition and management of required mitigation acreage located in the designated conservation areas. To be successful, the regional conservation strategy must be acceptable to a wide range of stakeholders. We propose a transparent process to formulate the strategy with a wide range of stakeholders, including the agricultural community, landowners, developers, environmental groups, and local agencies. Stakeholders will work with local planning staff, regulatory agencies, and an experienced consultant over an 18-month period to develop the regional conservation strategy for East Alameda County. The regional approach will save time and money while improving overall benefit to species habitat in East Alameda County and providing connectivity with other important adjacent areas that are in and suitable for conservation preserves. These include areas extending throughout the Tri-Valley and would geographically connect with adjacent natural areas and watersheds in Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara counties. Another important benefit is that environmental permitting for ongoing projects would not be delayed by the concurrent formulation of the regional conservation strategy. In fact, access to key decision makers at the regulatory agencies would be enhanced during strategy development due to their combined presence at the series of monthly meetings that will be required during plan preparation. In addition, the conservation strategy process would not extend or expand the regulatory authority of any of the participating regulatory agencies, i.e., the strategy would not be used to require mitigation for projects that otherwise would not require mitigation. Participating cities and other local agencies would receive the following benefits: