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

bio design project


Biological Report Procedures for Permit Applicants


Ventura County Qualified Biologist Program


California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Initial Study Assessment Guidelines (ISAGS)

Ventura County Biological Resource Maps


Critical Habitat for Federally Listed Threatened and Endangered Species

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has designated critical habitat for certain federally listed threatened and endangered species. To find out whether a property contains critical habitat, check out the USFWS Critical Habitat Online Mapper or contact the Ventura Office of the USFWS. If a project proposed within critical habitat involves no federal funding or permit, then formal consultation with the USFWS is not required. However, the Planning Division encourages you to design your project to avoid or minimize impacts to critical habitat, because it is considered to be a significant biological resource.


California Department of Fish and Game Public Data Viewer (BIOS), Ventura County Maps

This on-line map viewer is maintained by the California Department of Fish and Game and contains maps of biological resources statewide. Biological resource maps specific to Ventura County can be accessed through a bookmark on the map viewer. Instructions to view the Ventura County maps are provided below.

Navigate to the main BIOS web page https://wildlife.ca.gov/Data/BIOS, and click on the "Public BIOS Data Viewer" rectangle (please do not use the BETA version as the Ventura County datasets are not available there). Once the viewer loads, up at the top of the screen, there is a blue push pin on the task bar. This is where the Ventura County maps can be selected for for viewing.

  1. Click on the blue push pin
  2. Click on "Browse Bookmarks"
  3. Find "Ventura County Datasets" under the description heading
  4. Click on the blue "Load" link for loading that particular bookmark

Plant Communities of Ventura County


Native and Invasive Plant Identification


Planting Guides for Natives


Native Plant Lists

  • Calscape –California Native Plant Society

Extensive database for gardening with native plants in California. Database allows the user to search for different types of native plants (tree, shrub, succulent, etc.) that would grow well in your garden based on environmental conditions (drainage, water requirement, sun), ease of care, use (Butterfly gardens, bank stabilization, bird gardens, hedges, deer resistant, etc.), flower color, flowering season, fragrance, etc. Provides information associated with the plant’s availability in nurseries, as well as the types of local pollinators it will support.  


Special Status Species of Ventura County


Wildlife Corridors


Laws and Policies Related to Biological Resources

Migratory Birds
Oak Woodlands
Tree Protection
Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas in the Coastal Zone
Watercourses and Wetlands