The California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus)
Project Permitting Resources
Sustainable Conservation, a California-specific nonprofit, produced permitting guidance, provides free technical assistance, and engages in policy advocacy to simplify restoration project permitting in California, making it easier and faster to engage in restoration work.
Sustainable Conservation developed Accelerating Restoration, a website designed to help restoration project proponents in California find and understand how to use efficient permitting pathways for their aquatic and riparian habitat restoration projects.
- Permitting pathways by agency
- Alphabetical list of all accelerated pathways
- Examples of projects that used accelerated permits
CDFW Cutting the Green Tape program is focused on improving regulatory processes and policies so that ecological restoration and stewardship can occur more quickly, simply, and cost-effectively. Learn more at CDFW Cutting the Green Tape
Permitting Focused Case Studies
Sustainable conservation partnered with the Forum in 2025 to produce a suite of case studies examining how a variety of restoration projects managed the project permitting experience. Projects were chosen from around California, and each case study examines the project, its objectives and benefits, the permits used in the project, and lessons learned from the project practitioners.
Foster Park Fish Passage Project
This project was implemented by the City of Ventura to address a fish passage barrier on the Ventura River caused by an exposed early-1900s diversion dam, benefiting Southern California Steelhead, Pacific Lamprey, and California Red-Legged Frog. The team constructed a notch in the dam to restore passage, then had to navigate an entirely new round of permitting when major storms buried the notch under an estimated 6,000 cubic yards of debris just two years later. The notch itself was built in only three weeks, but permitting took nearly two years for the initial phase — and the project won the 2022 American Public Works Association Project of the Year Award.
Jenny Creek Barrier Removal
This project was implemented by Trout Unlimited to remove a 1960s-era concrete diversion structure on Jenny Creek, a Klamath River tributary, to reopen approximately 0.5–1 mile of habitat for Steelhead, Coho, and Chinook Salmon. The barrier was demolished using controlled blasting by a CDFW specialized crew, making it one of the first tributary barrier removals completed alongside the historic Klamath River dam removals. A site visit with a Shasta Indian Nation tribal elder was the turning point that unlocked tribal approval and moved the entire project forward.
North Coast Fish Passage Projects (Upper Noyo River, No Name Gulch, Strawberry Creek)
These three projects were implemented by Trout Unlimited between 2019 and 2022 to replace or improve problematic road and railroad stream crossings in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, opening miles of habitat for Coho and Chinook Salmon, Steelhead, and Pacific Lamprey. All three used the same “Small Project Bundle” of streamlined state and federal permitting pathways, demonstrating how a consistent approach can accelerate multiple projects efficiently. On the Strawberry Creek project, TU successfully challenged a 1990s-era 30-day concrete curing standard, reducing the required stream diversion period to just 3 days through a rigorous pH monitoring plan — the first time restoration practitioners had succeeded in overturning that standard.
Quiota Creek Fish Passage Enhancement Projects
These 10 projects were implemented by the Cachuma Operations Maintenance Board (COMB) between 2008 and 2020 to replace problematic road-stream crossings with prefabricated arch culvert bridges on Quiota Creek in Santa Barbara County, benefiting Southern California Steelhead and California Red-Legged Frog. COMB used a consistent permitting strategy combining HREA and the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program (FRGP) across similar projects, and the Quiota Creek crossings were among the very first projects in California to utilize the HREA pathway after it became available in 2015. Using HREA reduced permit timelines to just 30 days per crossing — a process that previously would have taken several months.
Sunol Valley Fish Passage Project at Alameda Creek
This project was led by California Trout (CalTrout) and PG&E to remove a seven-foot hydraulic barrier created by a concrete erosion control mat over an exposed gas pipeline, reopening more than 20 miles of priority upstream habitat for Central California Coast Steelhead, Chinook Salmon, and Lamprey on Alameda Creek. The $15 million project required relocating the pipeline 100 feet downstream and 20 feet underground, followed by full channel regrading and native revegetation, all on land owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The 401 Water Quality Certification — the final and most critical permit — was issued only days before construction was set to mobilize, keeping the team on edge despite over a year of advance coordination with the Water Board.