Imagine you own a restaurant that was not performing well. To increase your revenue, you decide to build a second restaurant. After weeks of searching, you finally find the perfect spot. However, you soon find out that your new plot of land is a habitat for an endangered bat. You realize that if you build on this land, you could be breaking federal laws. So, what can you do? Habitat Conservation Plans are useful tools to help you mitigate the effects to an endangered species.
Endangered Species Act
Let’s take a trip back to the 1970s. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973 to protect endangered and threatened animals and plants. The Act protects species and their habitats, along with the illegal removal and trade of wildlife. Here is where the idea of a “take” comes in. Take is defined by the ESA as “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.” An example of take would include habitat modification that results in injury, death or impairing a species.
An “incidental take” is a permit that is required if a company’s business activities could potentially encounter any listed plant or animal wildlife species. For example, if you had to cut down the endangered bats tree for your construction project, that would be considered an incidental take. Other examples of activities would include building over a habitat, removing a critical food source, and tearing down breeding grounds. These permits can apply to species that are listed as endangered and those that are non-listed as well.
Habitat Conservation Plans
The US Fish & Wildlife Service developed Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) in 1982 to enforce the Endangered Species Act. HCPs are required to obtain an incidental take permit. HCPs determine the potential effects of the proposed actions on endangered species and create mitigation plans for the species in question. HCPs can be complex documents. An HCP consists of six major sections, which include:
- Introduction and Background
- Project Description and Activities Covered by Permit
- Environmental Setting and Biological Resources
- Potential Biological Impacts and Take Assessments
- Conservation Programs
- Plan Implementation
Plans in Action
In 2006, Copper Mountain College in California decided to expand to meet the demands of the growing population of San Bernardino. The college was planning to expand its campus into an area where the threatened desert tortoise lives. This expansion would have resulted in a “take” as described in the Endangered Species Act. The college applied for a habitat conservation plan to mitigate the effects on the tortoise and to avoid take. For mitigation, the college designated an 85-acre plot to re-home the tortoise.
The plot now serves as a permanent tortoise preserve. In addition, the college monitors the preserve to ensure there are no threats from predators or human activity. The college also minimizes human activities by providing a Tortoise Awareness Program for residents in the area. As a result of their work, Copper Mountain College was recognized as an environmental steward for the Mojave Desert ecosystem. The Endangered Species Act was passed for organizations to act in the same manner as Copper Mountain College.
Habitat conservation plans are required for proposed projects that could infringe on a listed species’ habitat and possibly threaten that species. These plans take time and effort to complete, but the intention is to protect wildlife. If you plan to conduct a project that affects wildlife, remember to understand the regulations required for habitat conservation plans.
Sources
Copper Mountain College. (2018). Tortoise Awareness. Retrieved from https://www.cmccd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CMC-Tortoise-Awareness-Training-2018a.pdf
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (n.d.). Habitat Conservation Plans. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/service/habitat-conservation-plans