Environmental Attorneys Lindell and Christian Marsh visit SJSU.

Environmental attorneys Lindell and Christian Marsh visited the Environmental Planning class at SJSU to speak about Habitat Conservation Plans. Lindell Marsh, who was involved in the first habitat conservation plan passed in 1980 in San Bruno, California spoke of the various aspects involved in the development of such plans.

The San Bruno Habitat Conservation Plan process began with the intention to protect the several rare species of butterflies that live in the San Bruno Mountains. According to Marsh, it was 3-year collaborative process that involved the county, three cities, multiple landowners, developers, resource agencies and conservation groups. He emphasized on the four key elements of the HCP development process:

1.Collaboration- required gathering group of affected agencies and their interests.
2.Dialogue- among the stakeholders.
3.Vision and Initiatives- for protection and planning of the habitat area.
4.Scoping Process-considering alternatives, impacts and solutions

Picture: San Bruno Elfin Butterfly









Source: http://www.butterflyrecovery.org/species_profiles/san_bruno_elfin/

The San Bruno HCP had set the precedent for other habitat protection plans all over the country. Currently, there are 700 approved HCPs in the U.S, which cover almost 700 million acres of valuable habitats. The effectiveness of Habitat Conservation Plans has been debated over the years. An article published in the Seattle Post in 2005 investigated the flaws in many of the HCPs in the country. It points out that though many conservations plans have benefited to endangered species, many plans have “serious shortcomings that tip the scales in favor of development over endangered species.” It adds that the lack of a monitoring system that tracks how HCPs actually affect the threatened species is the real problem.(1)

Therefore for greater success of HCPs a widespread monitoring program may be needed.
One such monitoring program is the Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) adopted in San Diego in 1998. Biologists have pointed that this model could be a successful approach in bringing various stakeholders together to monitor a HCP.(2)

I think Habitat Conservation Plans were important steps taken in the right direction, especially at a time when environmental issues were not given much importance. However, environmental policies that have not worked in the past were due to the lack of collaboration and monitoring. I recollect Lindell Marsh expressing his thoughts on government policies: “Governance involves laws that work in fragments and has worked for many years because it was thought that resources are bountiful and endless,” he said. HCPs do recognize that resources are not endless but removing the fragmentation wthin them is the real challenge.


Bibliography:
1. McClure, Robert and Stiffler, Lisa “ Flaws in Habitat Conservation Plans threaten Scores of Species”. Seattle Post Intelligencer. May 2005
seatllepi.com. (accessed 01 Dec 2007)

2. Greer, Keith A "Rethinking Regional Habitat Conservation Plan Monitoring Programs: An Innovative Approach in San Diego, California". Endangered Species Update. Jul-Sep 2006 FindArticles.com. (accessed1 Dec. 2007)