For more than a century, the Resources Agency and its predecessors have worked to conserve, maintain, and improve the spectacular beauty and well-being of California’s forests, wildlife, waterways, open spaces and recreational lands.

In recent years, however, legislation, regulations, federal requirements and ballot initiatives have led to the creation of new programs and new responsibilities designed to protect these natural resources. In many cases, the result of these efforts is state government doing more to manage California’s natural resources, but it is difficult to argue that these efforts have led to better resource management.

An analysis by the California Performance Review found two key problems:

Activities performed by the Resources Agency are duplicated by other departments, boards, or commissions.
For instance, the State Lands Commission and the Department of Conservation are both responsible for managing oil and gas resources and a total of 13 state entities are responsible for energy. Both the Office of Planning and Research and the Resources Agency are charged with developing guidelines under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Similar functions are often separated within the Resources Agency and across the state.
Within the Resources Agency land management responsibilities are split between multiple departments. Additionally, legitimate resource management functions are not within the Agency at all. Water rights are currently managed by the Water Resources Control Board within Cal-EPA. This confuses the distinct issues of managing water rights and keeping water clean. It also prevents water rights management from being integrated into a larger examination of the use of California’s natural resources.

Efforts to manage and protect California’s natural resources should be refocused by consolidating and aligning overlapping program responsibilities and eliminating duplicative functions to create efficiency. A reorganized Department of Natural Resources should have as its primary mission monitoring, regulating and providing expert advice on the impact of human activities on the environment and natural resources. Consolidation should enable the Department to work in an integrated fashion with state agencies responsible for public health protection and those responsible for housing, transportation, water and energy infrastructure to create sustainable communities that respect nature and use natural resources responsibly.

The Resources Agency should be consolidated and reorganized into an integrated Department of Natural Resources with the following organizational units:

• Office of the Secretary;
• Division of Land Management;
• Division of Wildlife Management;
• Division of Parks, History and Culture;
• California Coastal Commission;
• San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission; and
• State Conservancies.

This organizational framework is depicted in Exhibit 9.

The remaining boards and commissions within the Department should be reviewed with the aim of realignment and consolidation with the appropriate organizational units discussed below.

Office of the Secretary
1. Management Goal: The goal of the Secretary should be to effectively manage California’s natural resources.

2. Purpose and Functions: The Secretary should be the primary point of accountability for the management of all natural resource programs and report directly to the Governor. Cross-cutting and coordination responsibilities should be vested with the Office of the Secretary.

3. Transferred Functions: The administrative services functions of the constituent units of the Department including public affairs, legal, legislative, information technology and financial management, including local financial assistance, should be consolidated in the Office of the Secretary.
Division of Land Management
1. Management Goal: The goal of the Division should be the effective management of California’s lands.

2. Purpose and Functions: The Division should manage and protect the millions of acres of land the state received upon its entry into the Union, including the beds of all naturally navigable waterways, tide and submerged lands in the ocean, swamp and overflow lands. It should also be responsible for state policies concerning agricultural and open space lands; geology and seismology, mineral and forestry resource management functions, including timber harvesting.

3. Transferred Functions: The following land management functions and programs should be transferred to this Division:
   • Office of Mine Reclamation from Department of Conservation;
   • California Geological Survey from Department of Conservation;
   • Division of Land Resource Protection from Department of Conservation;
   • Environmental Planning and Managing from State Lands Commission;
   • Mineral Resources Management from State Lands Commission, with the exception of energy-related leases;
   • Land Management from State Lands Commission, with the exception of school lands management;
   • Resource Management from California Department of Forestry;
   • California Environmental Quality Act guidelines and Clearinghouse functions of the Office of Planning and Research;
   • Land acquisition activities from State Lands Commission, Wildlife Conservation Board and Department of Parks and Recreation;
   • Board of Mining and Geology; and
   • Board of Geologists and Geophysicists.
Water Rights Board
1. Management Goal: The goal of the Board should be to allocate water rights in a fair, open and equitable way for the benefit of all Californians.

2. Purpose and Functions: The Water Rights Board should allocate water rights in California by issuing permits. The Board should also develop strategies to conserve and use the state’s water resources while protecting vested rights, water quality and the environment.

3. Transferred Functions: The water rights functions of the State Water Resources Control Board should be transferred to this Division.
Division of Wildlife Management
1. Management Goal: The goal of the Division should be to develop a coordinated, integrated and efficient approach to wildlife management.

2. Purpose and Functions: The Division should be charged with maintaining native fish, wildlife, plant species and natural communities for ecological value, benefits to people and habitat protection. It should also ensure diversified use of fish and wildlife for recreational, commercial, scientific and educational purposes.

3. Transferred Functions: The wildlife management functions of the Department of Fish and Game should be transferred to this Division.
Division of Parks, History and Culture
1. Management Goal: The goal of the Division should be to provide quality service and recreational opportunities to the people of California and visitors to the state.

2. Purpose and Functions: This consolidated Division should be tasked with preserving the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting natural and cultural resources and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.

3. Transferred Functions: The following recreational, historical and cultural functions and programs should be consolidated and their functions transferred to this Division:
   • Department of Parks and Recreation;
   • California Science Center from the State and Consumer Services Agency; and
   • African-American Museum from the State and Consumer Services Agency.
California Coastal Commission
1. Management Goal: The Commission’s goal should be to protect public beach access, wetlands, wildlife on land and in the sea, water quality, scenic vistas and coastal tourism.

2. Purposes and Functions: The Coastal Commission should continue to protect the environment and the human-based resources of the California coast. The Commission should continue to work in conjunction with coastal cities and counties to plan and regulate development, industrial uses, public access and recreation in coastal zones.

3. Transferred Functions: The Commission should be transferred intact from the Resources Agency to the Department of Natural Resources.
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
1. Management Goal: The Commission’s goal should continue to be to protect the Bay and its natural resources, and regulate the development of the Bay and shoreline to their highest potential.

2. Purpose and Functions: The Commission should continue regulating the filling and dredging in San Francisco Bay, protecting the Suisun Marsh, regulating new development on the margins of the Bay and administering the federal Coastal Zone Management Act within the San Francisco Bay region of the coastal zone.

3. Transferred Functions: The Commission should be transferred intact from the Resources Agency to the Department of Natural Resources.
State Conservancies Division
1. Management Goal: The Division’s goals should be to effectively manage California’s conservancy programs.

2. Purpose and Functions: This Division should acquire open space and manage public lands to provide access, recreation, restoration and protection of wildlife habitat.

3. Transferred Functions: The following conservancies should operate under the Department of Natural Resources:
   • Baldwin Hills Conservancy;
   • California Tahoe Conservancy;
   • Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy;
   • San Diego River Conservancy;
   • San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy;
   • San Joaquin River Conservancy;
   • Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy; and
   • State Coastal Conservancy.

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