Habitat Conservation Plan

Habitat Conservation Plans under the Endangered Species Act provide a framework for people to complete projects while conserving at-risk species of plants and animals. Congress envisioned Habitat Conservation Plans(HCPs) as integrating development and land-use activities with conservation in a climate of cooperation. The Endangered Species Act protects endangered and threatened species of wildlife and plants. Without a permit, it is unlawful to “take” listed wildlife species. That means that people may not harm the species or kill them, or attempt to do so.

The need for HCPs arises from the fact that listed species live wherever they find suitable habitat, without regard to who owns it. Before HCPs became a reality, farmers, foresters or people who were interested in developing private land that was home to endangered or threatened species risked breaking the law. Congress recognized this dilemma and amended the Endangered Species Act to allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue incidental take permits to landowners who develop Habitat Conservation Plans. HCPs provide a framework for creative partnerships with the goal of reducing conflicts between listed species, local land use and economic development.

Habitat Conservation Plans can help local landowners better manage their property and help communities plan economic development while ensuring the future of endangered and threatened species. Whether at a large or small scale, landowners and communities can develop landscape-level strategies to conserve biological diversity. By protecting habitat and preventing the decline of sensitive species, HCPs can help preclude the need for listings under the Endangered Species Act. Early conservation measures help maintain healthy ecosystems and valuable greenspace that states and counties are increasingly seeking to protect—while they provide for new residents and businesses.

For example, the International Paper Company developed an HCP covering the red-cockaded woodpecker on company lands in the Southeast. This HCP described the impact of timber operations on the red-cockaded woodpecker and developed measures to mitigate that impact. Such measures included actively managing approximately 5,300 acres of habitat in order to increase the population on that habitat to 25-30 family clusters. To encourage the private sector to develop long-term conservation plans, the incidental take permit remains in effect for the life of the project.

By creating HCPs, Congress recognized that economic development can occur alongside
endangered species conservation. The challenge is to make the process work and further cooperative conservation—to ensure that landowners or development activities do not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of at-risk species.