21-1284		(CEQA) and on projects that may affect natural resources within the Santa Monica Mountains Zone.
	To Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and River Committee To Planning and Land Use Management Committee Resolution (Blumenfield – et al. – Krekorian) relative to directing City staff to consult with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy prior to the release of any draft negative declarations and environmental impact reports under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and on projects that may affect natural resources within the Santa Monica Mountains Zone.

• Read:    Resolution
• Read:    Eastern Santa Monica Mountains Natural Resource Protection Plan
• See:       Eastern Santa Monica Mountains Habitat Linkage Planning Map
• See:       Big Wild – Topanga State Park Core-Habitat Area Planning Map

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has released a new resource protection plan focused on the eastern Santa Monica Mountains, including Topanga.

“The goal of this Eastern Santa Monica Mountains Natural Resource Protection Plan (NRPP) is to provide a baseline document that successfully guides all forms of land protection in the portion of the Santa Monica Mountains between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and the eastern boundary of Griffith Park,” the project announcement states.

The plan places an emphasis on connectivity, including the existing patchwork of non-contiguous habitat blocks and the trails and habitat corridors wildlife use to travel between them.

“Without adequate habitat connectivity at multiple landscape scales, the subject plan area natural systems will continue to decline,” the report finds.

An earlier National Park Service resource protection plan focused primarily on the central and western part of the range, but excluded natural areas east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and north of Mulholland Drive, where some of the earliest battles over open space were waged, but which have not been the focus of a concerted habitat protection plan.

The new plan describes this area as rich in “regionally significant resources that warrant the best available natural resource protection plan.”

The new NRPP combines three earlier Conservancy planning maps for a comprehensive overview of the entire habitat system. One of the goals is to “emphasize the importance of protecting the few remaining viable habitat linkages across the cross mountain busy arterial roadways that include Sepulveda Boulevard, Beverly Glen Boulevard, Benedict Canyon Drive, Coldwater Canyon Avenue, and Laurel Canyon Boulevard,” but the plan also maps and highlights missing links in the Topanga area. It’s described as an important step towards comprehensive protection for ecological resources and potential public open space.

Read more: The Mediterranean Coast Network documents its findings in reports published in the NPS Natural Resource Publication Series. All relevant reports for each monitoring protocol are listed below. All reports are housed and managed through the Integrated Resource Management Application (IRMA).