Congress authorized the HCP process when it amended the Endangered Species Act in 1982. An HCP allows the Services to permit "taking" of individual endangered or threatened species incidental to otherwise lawful activities when the effects of the taking are mitigated and minimized by agreed-upon conservation measures. There are more than 270 plans covering more than 20 million acres currently in effect, and more than 200 are under development.
The new policy -- an Addendum to the HCP handbook -- provides guidance in five areas: establishment of biological goals and objectives, adaptive management, monitoring, public participation, and duration of incidental take permits granted as part of the HCP process. The guidance will be incorporated into the Services joint Handbook for Habitat Conservation Planning and Incidental Take Permitting Process.
"HCPs are working exactly the way Congress intended, letting landowners develop their property while meeting the needs of threatened and endangered species," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Over the years, weve learned a great deal about how to make HCPs work even better as weve worked with hundreds of landowners. This new policy captures what we learned and incorporates it into our HCP Handbook so that we can improve the process for both landowners and listed species."
"HCPs can be an extremely attractive incentive for private landowners, giving them a high degree of certainty for what the future holds and giving wildlife a high degree of protection," said Penny Dalton, director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "Were very proud of this new policy. It demonstrates clearly that you can have a healthy economy and a healthy environment at the same time."
The five-point policy announced today requires that all future HCPs must clearly state biological goals and objectives. Although biological goals and objectives were implicit in past HCPs and their operating conservation programs, they were not explicitly stated. These goals and objectives will provide clear guidance for both the applicant and the Services.
The new policy also requires use of adaptive management in an HCP if significant biological uncertainty exists for covered species when the plan is approved. Under these guidelines, an adaptive management strategy would include a range of possible adjustments and the circumstances under which they would be triggered. This provides for a mechanism to respond to new information or changing conditions while giving landowners certainty about what might be expected of them in the future.
"Every HCP will clearly state its conservation objectives and, if necessary, the future adjustments that might be required by the landowner to meet them," Clark said. "This provides assurances all around that the needs of the species will be met while landowners know the limits of what might be asked of them."
The new five-point policy also requires enhanced monitoring programs to ensure proper compliance with an HCP, to determine whether biological goals and objectives are being met and to guide an adaptive management strategy, if one is used.
In addition, the policy provides guidance on factors the Services will consider in establishing the duration of incidental take permits associated with HCPs. These factors include duration of the applicants proposed activities, possible positive and negative effects on covered species, the extent of scientific and commercial data underlying the HCPs operating conservation program, the length of time necessary to achieve the benefits of the conservation program, and the extent to which the program incorporates adaptive management strategies.
The new policy also calls for increased public participation in the HCP process. This would mean a minimum 60-day public comment period for most HCPs and a minimum 90-day comment period for most large-scale, regional, or exceptionally complex agreements. The exception would be HCPs that qualify as low effect those defined as involving minor or negligible effect on listed species, their habitats or other environmental resources which would have a 30-day comment period.
The new five-point policy was published in todays Federal Register.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 520 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is the principal steward of the nations living marine resources, regulating the nations commercial and recreational fisheries and managing species under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act throughout 3.4 million square miles of federal waters which extend 200 miles from the coastline. An agency of the Commerce Departments National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Fisheries also protects marine and anadromous species under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
