On The Web - information on Habitat Conservation Plan program - Brief Article

Endangered Species Bulletin, July, 2000

For more information on our Habitat Conservation Plan program, please visit our website. Just go to the Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species Homepage (http://endangered.fws.gov) and click on the button at the left marked "HCPs." At this website, you can examine the regulations and policies shaping the HCP approach to reducing the affects of the Endangered Species Act while addressing the habitat needs of listed species.

Among other topics, the site explains how and why HCPs are developed, the issuance of Incidental Take Permits, and the "No Surprises" policy. "The Quiet Revolution," a 1997 publication posted on the website, features examples of HCPs throughout the nation. A 1995 article first published in the Endangered Species Bulletin, "The Nation's First Multi-species HCP for a Forested Landscape," illustrates an example from the state of Washington of the Service's trend towards landscape-scale plans that address the habitat needs of a number of listed and candidate species.

For details on how to develop an HCP, you can download the Habitat Conservation Planning Handbook (and its recent addendum), which was published jointly by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

As mentioned on page 13, additional information on Wisconsin's statewide HCP is available at this website:

http://midwest.fws.gov/eco_serv/endangrd/ insects/kbbhcp.html.

Region 1 has its own HCP website, containing information on: 1) the International Paper HCP in Washington, 2) the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Hydraulic Project Approval Project (relating to reviews of activities that may affect state waters), and 3) a log showing the status of the numerous HCPs being developed or implemented in western Washington. This site can be found at:

http://pacific.fws.gov/hcp/