Welcome to RMA

The Resource Management Agency strives to ensure that its customer service standards are consistent with the Agency’s Mission Statement:

The mission of the Resource Management Agency, in cooperation with the public and our partner agencies, is to protect the consumer and community’s health, safety, and environment by carrying out adopted laws and policies, and educating, assisting, and empowering Ventura County residents and businesses to be good stewards of the land and our resources.

Values

In addition, RMA has identified those core values which will guide us in carrying out our mission. These values are directly related to our customer service and include:

  • Honesty, hard work, and ethical behavior

  • Transparency and accountability

  • Equitable treatment and respect of all constituents

  • Excellence in service delivery

turbinatePhoto: Turbinate Sand-Verbena (Abronia Turbinata). © 2005 Steve Matson. There are 2 known occurrences of turbinate sand-verbena in Ventura County.

Ventura County’s unique location on the California coastline spans one of only two of the east-west transverse mountain ranges in North America whose biogeography serves as a transition zone between California’s Central and South Coast regions.   Ventura is an area that has experienced considerable geologic and climatic changes that have influenced the region during its recent prehistory. As an example, these environmental conditions and geography have created a variety of localized “microclimates” and habitat conditions where several small “relict” populations of plant taxa persist throughout areas of the County, which were presumably more widespread in the past[1]. These factors contribute to surprising flora diversity, where the County contains 25 percent of all native plant taxa known to occur in California but represents only 1 percent of its landmass (Magney 2023).

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, local and regional biological experts recognized the unique environmental conditions and diversity present in the Ventura County and worked with the County’s Planning Staff and local leaders to establish protections for the County’s animal and plant species, that were associated with limited, localized, and/or rare habitat types and environmental conditions. The result of those efforts resulted in language within the County’s 1988-2020 General Plan regarding the preservation and protection of Locally Important Species and Natural Communities (Section 1.5-Biological Resources, Goal 1.5.1).

Ventura County’s 2040 General Plan retains those goals and policies today, where Locally Important Species are identified as significant biological resources to be protected from incompatible land uses and development (see Goal COS-1 and Policy 1.1). To  ensure consistent identification of Locally Important Species, the listing criteria and process are established in the Biological Resources Section of the Initial Study Assessment Guidelines (ISAGs). Together the General Plan and ISAGs require that the project’s potential impacts to Locally Important Species be included in all biological resource assessments conducted by County approved qualified biologists for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review.

 

2023-2024 Locally Important Species Lists

Existing Locally Important Animal List
(Last updated in January 2024 with submissions from 2022-2023)

2023-2024 Locally Important Plant List (Excel)
(Last updated in January 2024 with submissions from 2023-2024)

Locally Important Species Criteria and List Update Procedures

The Planning Division reviews and updates the Locally Important Species List on an annual basis. The Planning Division maintains a list of plants and animals that meet the criteria for Locally Important Species and updates the list on an annual basis if changes are warranted.

Proposals for additions to or removals from the Locally Important Species List may be submitted from January 1 – July 31st each year by filling out a Data Form below and by submitting that form to the Planning Division. It must include citations for the sources of information that support statements about a species’ populations, range, important habitats, and status.

Please use the Species Data Forms listed below which can be emailed or printed and mailed to the Planning Division. Include citations for sources of information that support statements about a species’ populations, range, important habitats, and status. Species Data Forms that do not provide citations or supporting documentation will not be considered.

 Data forms can be emailed to Abigail Convery at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mailed to:

County of Ventura
Attn: Abigail Convery
Ventura County Planning Division
Hall of Administration
800 S. Victoria Ave. L#1740
Ventura, CA 93009-1740

Important Notes for Submissions:

A) All species occurrence data must include one of the following types of documentation: 1) published in a peer review journal or Consortium of California Herbaria, or historic county records/collections; 2) For animal occurrences or a new plant occurrence not yet documented in the Consortium of California Herbaria, provide a documented California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) PDF report CNDDB Field Survey Form. The Planning Division is encouraging professional botanists to get a plant voucher collecting permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife so that species on the LIS list can be submitted to an approved herbaria. This allows for species to be officially removed from the County’s LIS list when new occurrences are officially confirmed in the County.
B) Species considered extirpated will not be considered for listing on the County’s LIS.
C) All species with occurrence data within Ventura County, except the Channel Islands will be considered.


Notifications for the Locally Important Species Program (Public)

EMAIL LISTSERV: Please complete the form below to receive important email announcements associated with the County’s Locally Important Species program, including  the release of the draft Locally Important Species list before it is finalized each year.
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