Conservation and Mitigation Banking

Bank Agreement Review Process

This process begins after the basic components of the bank have been addressed by the DFG Regional Bank Coordinator and other appropriate agencies. These components include: the biological values of the site, the type and number of credits awarded, the service area, the management required, who will own the property in the long term, and the level of financial assurances required (size of the endowment, letters of credit, etc).

• The Regional Bank Coordinator provides the appropriate bank agreement template (conservation bank or wetland mitigation bank) to the applicant in hard copy and on disk (all other policy materials should be provided to the applicant at that time, if they have not already been provided). The Regional Bank Coordinator counsels the applicant that the fewer changes they propose to the template, the faster the review process.
• The applicant submits a red-line version and a clean copy of the agreement to the Regional Bank Coordinator for review.
• The Regional Bank Coordinator reviews any proposed changes to the template to determine if they are acceptable and consistent with policy. An optional informal review by the Habitat Conservation Planning Branch (HCPB) and/or the General Counsel's Office could be conducted if significant variation from the template is proposed. The Regional Bank Coordinator coordinates with staff from other agencies involved to determine if the document is acceptable and consistent with their policies.
• Once the Regional Bank Coordinator is satisfied with all the changes and the entire document package is complete, they review it one last time to assure that all appendices referenced in the agreement are included and appropriate and that all cross-references are accurate. The Regional Bank Coordinator should not submit the agreement until all details have been addressed. A management plan should have received thorough review by the agencies and should be finalized and included in the bank agreement package. The Regional Bank Coordinator should advise the applicant that review by HCB staff could take two to four months.
• Concurrent with sending the bank agreement package to HCB, the conservation easement or title package should be sent to the Wildlife Branch. The Wildlife Branch will review the package for completeness, request missing items, identify and resolve any issues, and begin preparing the package for processing once the bank agreement is signed. The Fish and Game Commission must accept the conservation easement or title for the bank to be operational.
• The final bank agreement is returned to the bank operator who gets the necessary signatures from the other agencies. The bank agreement is signed by the Regional Manager last. After all parties have signed the bank agreement and the conservation easement or title is recorded, the bank can sell credits.
• The bank operator submits the annual management and monitoring reports and accounting reports to the Regional Bank Coordinator who reviews the above-named reports, conducts compliance monitoring visits, sets up any endowment accounts with Accounting Services Branch, ensures that the endowment deposits are made, and reviews the invoices for management activities to be reimbursed by the interest from the endowment (assures that the activities are consistent with the management plan).