Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Brian Dahle has been signed into law by the Governor, allowing Shasta County to proceed with a long-stalled bridge replacement project near Fall River Mills.
Assembly Bill 1845 granted one-time authorization for take of the rough sculpin, a species that since the 1960s has been listed as “fully protected” under California law. Under that listing, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has no authority to issue a normal permit for incidental take.
Shasta County has been working for several years to replace an antiquated bridge over Spring Creek, a tributary of the Fall River, which is prime habitat for the rough sculpin. Ultimately, authorizing the work in the river required an act of the Legislature.
“In the long run, California needs to reform the ‘fully protected species’ law, to integrate it with the California Endangered Species Act procedures and base decisions about species protection on today’s scientific knowledge instead of decades old political whims,” Dahle said. “Unfortunately, those changes are a heavy political lift in Sacramento.”
“In the meantime, I am proud to help Shasta County move forward with this project before the bridge was forced to close for safety reasons, with all the community disruption that brings, as we’ve recently seen elsewhere in the area. It is shameful that we’ve created so many bureaucratic hurdles in California that basic safety work is delayed for years.”
Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, represents California’s 1st Assembly District, which includes Lassen County along with all or parts of Butte, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
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