CRC Receives Fourth Wildlife Habitat Council Certification
California Resources Corporation (CRC) is directly in line with the state’s biodiversity goal of preserving 30 percent of lands statewide for natural habitat. In fact, CRC already holds a state permit to dedicate 25 percent of our statewide surface acreage at full field development for perpetual habitat conservation. This will triple the size of our existing habitat conservation areas and further expand our certified conservation programs.
CRC recently received our fourth Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) certification for the Barlow Canyon Oak Woodlands Restoration program in Ventura County, a project to restore, enhance and protect coastal sage and chaparral habitat that promotes increased biodiversity and provides refuge for many native species.
The endeavor derived from a volunteer project that CRC employees began two years ago. A dozen employees along with ranch staff from the Rancho Ventura Conservation Trust (RVCT) planted new trees, including California Oak and Sycamore that lined the border of the specified area in Barlow Canyon.
However, most of the RVCT land vegetation, including the newly planted trees, was destroyed by the Thomas fire in December 2017. Not to be deterred, CRC personnel returned to the site for Earth Day in April 2018 and replanted new trees.
Jeff Nobriga, HSE Team Lead in Ventura stated, “Our task was to begin the restoration of the land so that the abundant wildlife could return to their natural habitat. By initiating this Wildlife Habitat Council Certification Project, we were able to restore the land per the tree planting and receive the WHC accreditation.”
This latest achievement joins our Council-certified coastal habitat conservation programs at the four THUMS oil production islands in Long Beach Harbor and the Huntington Beach Field. CRC has also planted 67,000 trees in the past five years in our orchard properties and support urban tree planting in the communities where we operate through volunteerism and donations.
