Loomis Austin News Archives

Work Plan Approved for Hays County Habitat Conservation Plan

The following is a reprint from the Hays Free Press newspaper:

Wildlife just got a little safer: County approves initial steps towards habitat conservation plan

10/25/2006

By Jen Biundo

 County – Hays County Commissioners came one step closer Tuesday morning to making the area safe for endangered species such as the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped vireo
[pictured at right], and also preserving the juniper-oak woodlands
and oak savannas the birds call home.

Commissioners unanimously approved the work plan presented by environmental consultants Loomis Austin, Inc., for the county’s Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP).  The work plan sets out a series of steps to implement the HCP as early as 2008, said Clifton Ladd, senior biologist and environmental group vice president of Loomis Austin. 

“We will address all manner of environmental impacts, not just endangered species, but socio-economics, population development, and how this project could impact the human environment of Hays County,” Ladd said.

 The HCP, funded by a $750,000 federal grant and a $250,000 county match, would help the rapidly-growing county preserve open space and nurture endangered species in the face of residential and commercial development.

 “It will give you a way [to] manage endangered species on a local level, with a local solution,” Ladd said. 

Habitat Conservation Plans were congressionally authorized in 1983 as an amendment to the Endangered Species Act.  HCPs allow landowners and local governments to apply for an “Incidental Take Permit” for development that may harm endangered species or their habitats, in exchange for mitigating the impact of that development in some other manner.

 Currently, those permits are doled out through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a time-consuming and expensive effort for developers.  Under the regional HCP, Hays County would be able to issue
its own permits and work with developers on habitat remediation.

 “I think it’s ambitious, but all goals should be ambitious,” said Pct. 4 Commissioner Will Conley, who spear-headed the project.

 This April, commissioners also contracted Austin law firm Smith-Robertson, LLP, to guide the
county through the one to two year process of gathering public input and structuring the HCP.

 Reprinted courtesy of the Hays Free Press -  www.haysfreepress.com.