Science Advisors Information

Under California state law, the Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) process must establish science-based conservation and management standards to guide plan development. The NCCP process must therefore incorporate independent scientific input and analysis to help identify sound principles for landscape and habitat conservation, plant and animal protection, and monitoring and adaptive management. With early and ongoing scientific consultation, conservation and land use decisions can be based upon the best available scientific data and methods, beginning in the formative stages of the NCCP. Such scientific advice is not only necessary under the law, it helps ensure that the plan efficiently meets its goals to conserve biological diversity while ensuring continued economic uses of land in eastern Merced County.

For the eastern Merced County NCCP, a team of independent scientific advisors will be identified and consulted as soon as possible. These advisors will include ecological scientists having expertise directly relevant to conserving and managing sensitive species and natural communities in eastern Merced County, as well as an understanding of the unique land use considerations in this agricultural landscape. Their first tasks will include evaluating existing scientific information, recommending additional studies that may be necessary to address data gaps or uncertainties, and proposing conservation principles to help guide plan development towards achieving NCCP goals. The advisory team will include experts on locally occurring species and natural communities (for example, sensitive birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, vernal pool crustaceans, vernal pool plants, and grasslands); important ecological processes and the physical environment (for example, water flow, soils, fire regimes, and landscape ecology); agricultural sciences and methods; quantitative modeling of ecosystem processes and geographic patterns; and reserve design. The Science Advisors may also call upon other experts to supplement their knowledge as needed.

To ensure their objectivity, the Science Advisors will meet independently of the planning consultant team, stakeholder groups, advisory committee, or other public meetings. The science advisors' tasks and meetings will be coordinated by a professional facilitator with an understanding of conservation science and planning. The facilitator will strive to ensure the independence and objectivity of the scientists to maintain the integrity of their advice and of the eventual conservation program, and to keep their input relevant and useful to the process. The facilitator will be the formal point of contact for the advisors, will convene and manage their meetings, and will ensure timeliness of their products. The objective scientific input of the Science Advisors will be considered in Plan development along with input from the Stakeholder Groups, Advisory Committee, economic studies, County General Plan policies, and other factors.

The scientific advisory process is currently being developed in consultation with the facilitator, Dr. Wayne Spencer of the Conservation Biology Institute, who has been retained by the County for this purpose. In addition, the County has retained Dr. Reed Noss of Conservation Science, Inc., to serve as Lead Scientist for the Science Advisors. The Lead Scientist serves as the primary author of the Advisors' written reports