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,......................................................................................................................................................................... F RAY E 0 SA F E T Y NET S e tem, etc.), traditional single-landowner HCPs are designed around an area where the landowner wishes to conduct activities that result in inci- dental take (O'Connell and Johnson 1997). Nevertheless, in two programs, for southern California and for the sandhills region of North Carolina, the federal government has overcome this apparent limitation. First and most importantly, in the first pilot program for the NCCP in southern California, the geographic area is defined by the extent of coastal sage scrub remaining (rather than juris- dictional boundaries). At the beginning of the program, a scientific review panel of five promi- nent conservation biologists was assembled to develop very general guidelines for conservation of coastal sage scrub, based on ecological infor- mation. When the coastal California gnatcatcher was listed as threatened, this comprehensive view of coastal sage scrub (the bird's habitat) was essential in implementing immediate regulations on development and providing the basis for an ecosystem-wide planning effort. On a much smaller scale, the safe-harbor program for red-cockaded woodpeckers in the sandhills region of North Carolina was also delineated by a physiographic region. The sand- hills region supports one of the largest remaining red-cockaded woodpecker populations and is one of 15 designated recovery populations (FWS 1985). The region contains woodpeckers on state lands and on Fort Bragg Military Reservation, but those two areas are not adjacent to each other, and 30 percent of the known woodpecker groups in the region occur on pri- vate lands that lie in between or proximate to the two tracts of public land. Those private lands are targeted for agreements under the sandhills safe-harbor program. Preserve Design Preserve design is especially relevant to the large-scale plans that establish a system of pre- serves or special management areas, including plans for urban areas (e.g., Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan), large single- landowner plans (e.g., Plum Creek Timber Company) and plans for individual species (e.g., Louisiana Black Bear). In a general sense, these plans consist of designating certain areas where development or other activities that destroy habi- tat are permitted and certain areas where habitat will be conserved. The amount, quality and spa- tial configuration of the preserved habitat is cen- tral to the plan's success in sustaining endangered species. Consequently, the preserve design must be based on an adequate understanding of which habitats are occupied by endangered species, population estimates for those species and identi- fication of appropriate unoccupied habitat. Some plans contain the implicit assumption that preserve areas will function to sustain viable pop- ulations of various species (e.g., the golden- cheeked warbler under the Balcones Canyonlands plan and the MSCP in San Diego). To succeed, these plans must provide: (1) pre- serve areas which can sustain breeding individu- als, (2) ways for those individuals to move between the preserve areas and (3) protection for unoccupied habitat, so that such habitat remains suitable for future colonization. The first requirement of preserve design is for