As we provide energy service to our customers, we also strive to be responsible stewards of the lands we own and where we operate and prioritize collaboration in our approach to protecting and restoring species and their habitats. This includes exploring new partnerships to build more resilient forests and communities.

Our approach

PG&E completes Land Conservation Commitment

PG&E completed our unprecedented Land Conservation Commitment (LCC) in 2024, which will permanently protect approximately 140,000 acres of PG&E-owned watershed lands. These lands are now conserved for Californians—protecting habitat for fish, wildlife, and plants; open space and cultural resources; outdoor recreation by the general public; and sustainable forestry and agricultural uses.

The LCC permanently protects forests, wetlands, and meadows across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges by granting conservation easements to local land trusts and donating land not needed for PG&E operations. Some 40,000 acres were transferred to public entities or qualified non-profit conservation organizations, while PG&E retains ownership of nearly 100,000 acres. 

Over about 20 years, PG&E developed unique conservation agreements and partnerships with private conservation groups, Native American tribal organizations, and several government agencies, including CAL FIRE. Arising from PG&E’s 2003 bankruptcy settlement, the LCC enables PG&E and our partners to protect the lands in perpetuity for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of the public.

The Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council, an independent nonprofit organization, played an important facilitative and oversight role for the development and implementation of the property and conservation easement donations.

Partnering for resilient forests and communities

As part of PG&E’s continued focus on serving our customers and the planet, we are piloting new community partnerships to build more resilient forests and communities. Through these pilots, PG&E is co-creating a diverse array of locally-led projects to reduce wildfire risk by better managing fuels and supporting community risk reduction—with many benefits to customers, the state, and forest ecosystems.

The pilots will evaluate different strategies, as well as potential pathways to replicate successful approaches in high-risk areas. PG&E also aims to further incorporate indigenous knowledge into forest management practices through this work.

Among the pilot projects underway

•  In Tuolumne County, working with American Forest Foundation and the county to restore forest health on private lands through targeted forest treatments.
•  In Butte County, partnering with the Butte County Fire Safe Council, California Department of Water Resources, and CAL FIRE to treat PG&E-owned and adjacent land in high fire-risk locations.
• In Sonoma County, working with the Northern Sonoma County Fire Foundation to support fuel reduction around roadside right of ways to improve safety on a key evacuation route.

Managing our forested lands

PG&E maintains 52,000 acres of forested land, partnering with local communities in wildfire prevention programs and collecting and storing seeds from PG&E-forested lands for future restoration purposes.

Environmental stewardship of our hydroelectric operations

We manage our hydroelectric facilities to enhance and, where possible, restore habitats for fish and other wildlife. PG&E tracks key indicators of our performance related to maintaining and managing our hydroelectric system and the fish and wildlife habitats that it encompasses. 

1. Refers to miles of stream monitored for conditions such as water quality and flow, sediment management, habitat quality, fish populations, and invasive species. 
2. Includes monitoring of bald eagle and other nesting territories at PG&E hydroelectric projects.
3. Special status species include those that are listed under the federal or state Endangered Species Acts or are otherwise given a specific designation by California or a federal resource or land management agency. Monitoring studies are required under various hydroelectric licenses.

Habitat conservation plans: Protecting federally-designated species

PG&E uses habitat conservation plans (HCP) to protect federally designated threatened and endangered species and their habitats, while enabling PG&E to maintain and operate our gas and electric infrastructure. 

Under 30-year permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, our entire service area has federal coverage for endangered species most likely to be found near our gas and electric infrastructure:

• Our San Francisco Bay Area HCP protects 18 wildlife species and 13 plant species throughout the nine Bay Area counties.
• Our San Joaquin Valley HCP protects 23 wildlife and 42 plant species within nine counties of the San Joaquin Valley.
• Our Multiple-Region HCP protects 24 animal and 12 plant species.

In 2023, our efforts protected, created, or restored more than 100 acres of habitat, and managed over 7,000 acres of existing restoration or conservation projects. One benefit of the HCPs is that conservation and restoration work primarily occurs in advance of impacts, benefitting the species that use these natural areas.

1. PG&E undertook these activities to meet various regulatory requirements.
2. PG&E conserved three acres of species habitat for one endangered species. Relative to prior years, this figure was lower due to year-to-year fluctuations in protected acres based on operational needs and conservation project timelines. 
3. PG&E restored, enhanced, or created nearly 106 acres of riparian and species habitat for five threatened or endangered species.
4. PG&E actively managed nearly 7,043 acres across 55 properties for a variety of species and habitats, an effort related to new and ongoing conservation commitments.

State programmatic agreements and permits: Protecting state-designated species

For California-designated endangered or threatened species, PG&E maintains a 30-year programmatic permit with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) for certain operations and maintenance activities in the San Joaquin Valley, the nine Bay Area counties, and the Mojave Desert. These permits protect more than a dozen species―from the California Tiger Salamander in the San Joaquin Valley to the Alameda Whip Snake in the Bay Area to the Desert Tortoise and Mojave Ground Squirrel in the Mojave Desert.

Through these permits, PG&E could conserve over 3,000 acres of additional habitat over the next 30 years in conjunction with conservation goals outlined in the Bay Area HCP. We will also potentially conserve over 1,500 acres of habitat in the Mojave Desert.

PG&E is developing additional, similar permits with CDFW to provide coverage for our work within the Sacramento Valley and Central Coast.

Federal land programmatic agreements

Climate change has increased the incidence of drought and wildfire risk in California. To reduce risks, PG&E is working to establish long-term operations and maintenance plans with the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. The plans will allow PG&E to more efficiently maintain our facilities for public safety and service reliability, including reducing the risk of wildfire ignitions related to our facilities.

The plans will establish enhanced processes that enable PG&E to carry out operations and maintenance work, along with consistent requirements aimed at controlling or preventing damage to scenic, aesthetic, cultural, and environmental resources.

Once a long-term agreement is reached with the National Park Service, we expect it will replace annual special use permits for the eight national parks within PG&E’s service area. The current permits facilitate expedited work review by the parks and allow PG&E to conduct wildfire safety and other operations and maintenance activities with pre-negotiated resource protection measures.

PG&E currently conducts wildfire prevention-related maintenance of our facilities on Bureau of Land Management lands under the guidance of the agency’s Wildfire Instruction Memorandum for Electric Utilities. PG&E also has a 30-year operations and maintenance plan with the U.S. Forest Service covering eleven national forests.

Developing mitigation banks

PG&E is currently developing two mitigation banks on PG&E-owned lands. A mitigation bank is a natural area that has been restored, enhanced, or preserved in coordination with agency stakeholders to offset unavoidable impacts by another party to resources that are protected by regulations.

Once approved, we anticipate that these lands will protect approximately 1,100 acres of tidal wetlands within the greater San Francisco Bay area, along with direct benefits to several species, including the threatened Delta Smelt and the endangered Clapper Rail bird and Salt-Marsh Harvest Mouse. These lands will also offer public access by leveraging the East Bay Regional Park District and their Bay Trail system.

Land stewardship at Diablo Canyon

The property surrounding PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant (Diablo Canyon) encompasses 14 miles of scenic coastline and 12,000 acres of sensitive habitat, productive ranches, and panoramic open spaces. 

Through collaborative measures, the Diablo Canyon Land Stewardship Program, run by PG&E coworkers, works to protect and manage the lands and resources of this stunning coastline. Together, this group closely monitors our land use, manages programs to provide visitors with access to the Pecho Coast and Point Buchon trails, and facilitates scientific research.

Highlights included hosting about 23,600 hikers on Point Buchon Trail and 1,500 hikers on Pecho Coast Trail and conducting a 276-acre prescribed burn in collaboration with CAL FIRE and other local agencies to decrease fuel loads around the historic Point San Luis Lighthouse and improve wildlife habitat.

Protecting birds through our Avian Protection Program

PG&E’s Avian Protection Plan seeks to protect migratory, threatened, and endangered birds from harm, while improving safety and reliability for customers.

Since 2002, PG&E has made about 40,000 existing power poles and towers bird-safe. In that time, we have also retrofitted about 41,000 power poles in areas where bird injuries or fatalities or bird-related outages have occurred. In 2023, we replaced approximately 8,500 poles in designated “Raptor Concentration Zones” and built them to avian-safe construction guidelines.