County’s Aim: Streamline Development

By ERICA MELTZER

Saving species would be done on regional basis

Pima County plans to apply for a permit before the end of the year from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would allow development to move forward, even if it harmed threatened species.

To get the permit, known as a “take permit,” Pima County must show its mitigation efforts – from buying ecologically sensitive land to protect it, to requiring developers to set aside land for conservation – outweigh the potential harm.

Getting the permit would represent the culmination of the county’s Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which is the county’s effort to comply with the Endangered Species Act.

By developing a habitat-conservation plan that applies throughout the unincorporated area, the county can mitigate the effects of development on habitat on a regional basis, rather than have developers and environmentalists fighting it out on a parcel-by- parcel basis.

While the pygmy owl has been removed from the endangered-species list, environmental groups have requested that it be put back on the list.

And the county can include species on the permit that are threatened but not endangered. If any of those animals were to end up on the endangered-species list, the county wouldn’t have to take any additional steps.

The permit would allow the county and any developers who go through the county development process to damage habitat without incurring any liabilities or sanctions under the Endangered Species Act.

It allows for what are called “incidental takings,” in which animals or habitat are likely to be harmed in the course of otherwise legal development.

Depending on how the permit is structured, it still could ban the actual killing of threatened species.

The permit would mean developers would not have to go directly to Fish and Wildlife and negotiate with environmentalists over each individual parcel.

Carolyn Campbell, executive director of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, said her organization supports getting the permit because of the substantial conservation requirements the county has adopted and because the county has included a monitoring plan that would allow it to know whether the plan is working to protect threatened species.

She said environmentalists often oppose permits that rely on regional habitat-conservation plans because they don’t provide enough protection, but she thinks Pima County’s plan is well-done.

Marana and Tucson are working on their own habitat-conservation plans, and Campbell said the coalition has not decided whether to support those efforts.

Roger Yohem, Southern Arizona Home Builders Association vice president, said developers are eager to see the county apply for and receive the permit.

“It provides certainty, and that’s all the builders have ever asked for,” Yohem said. “No longer will someone be able to change the rules in the middle of the game. They’re not going to get a year down the road with a million dollars invested only to have the whole thing turned around.”

When the county finishes its multispecies habitat-conservation plan later this year, it will apply to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the take permit. The permit undergoes a yearlong review that includes an environmental-impact study and a public-comment period.

Sherry Barrett, assistant field supervisor with Fish and Wildlife, said the service will look at the mitigation efforts the county has made and evaluate every species included by the county on the permit to make sure issuing the permit won’t jeopardize those species.

Barrett said the agency also will look at whether the county has the funds to implement the permit.

Last year, the county received a grant to develop a monitoring program that looks at ecosystem health instead of just counting threatened species, but funding for long-term monitoring still is uncertain.

On StarNet: View a sortable database of local critters at go.azstarnet.com/critters.

* Contact reporter Erica Meltzer at 807-7790 or emeltzer@azstarnet.com.

Originally published by ERICA MELTZER, ARIZONA DAILY STAR.

(c) 2008 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.