BOARD01677

• Board Meeting Date: 7/26/1999
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Assurances" under the Endangered Species Act on June 17 in the Federal Register. The "Safe
Harbor" policy provides incentives for private and. other non-federal property owners to restore,
enhance, or maintain habitats for listed species. Under the policy, the agencies provide
participating landowners with technical assistance and assurances that additional land, water,
and/or natural resource use restrictions will not be imposed as a result of voluntary conservation
actions that benefit or attract listed species. At the end of a "Safe Harbor" agreement, the
landowner would be allowed to return the property to its original "baseline" condition.

The agencies also released their final policy on "Candidate Conservation Agreements
with Assurances" (CCAA) for species that are not yet listed as endangered or threatened, but are
considered to be in decline and could be listed in the future.

Currently, there are more than 35 "Safe Harbor" agreements across the nation
encompassing more than one million acres. Current Safe Harbor agreements cover properties
ranging in size from 2.5 acres to 825,000 acres. Candidate Conservation agreements have already
resulted in the withdrawal of several proposals to list species. For example, the State of Utah
and the Fish and Wildlife Service has signed an agreement to protect a fish called the Virgin
spinedace. The goal of this agreement was to bring back this species to 80 percent of its habitat.
Based on the efforts of the state, the Virgin spinedace was removed from the candidate species
list in 1996.

U.S. and Mexico Launch Bi-Iateral Watershed Plan: On June 22 Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt joined Mexico's Envirollinental Minister Julia Carabias and Mexican Ambassador
to the United States Jesus Reyes-Heroles to announce a multi-million dollar partnership that will
permanently protect a critical watershed shared by both nations -- and roughly four million
migratory birds. The Interior Department claims the plan is an "unprecedented collaboration"
that shares funds, information, and conservation expertise between land and resource managers
in both countries. We are in the process of collecting more information about the plan and will
.pass it along when we obtain it.

Habitat Conservation Planning: On June 14 the USFWS announced it is soliciting
comments on the role of habitat in the conservation of listed species and the process of
designating critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. "Critical habitat" is a term in the
Act referring to the specific areas that contain physical or biological features essential to the
conservation of the species. A listed species does not necessarily have to be present in an area Tor
that area to be designated as critical habitat. The Act requires the designation of critical habitat
except when not prudent or determinable. Once an area is designated as critical habitat, federal
agencies are required to consult with the USFWS on actions they carry out, fund, or authorize
that may adversely modify that critical habitat. To date, the USFWS has designated critical
habitat for 113 of the 1,168 species listed as threatened or endangered. Recent court decisions
have required the USFWS to designate critical habitat for an increasing number of listed species.
Therefore, the USFWS is examining methods that could streamline and simplify the critical
habitat determination and designation process.

The USFWS published the Notice ofIntent in the Federal Register and encourages all
interested parties to comment on the role of habitat in endangered species conservation within
the 60-day comment period, which ends August 13, 1999. Comments should be sent to Chief,
Division of Endangered Species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1849 C Street NW, Mailstop
ARLSQ-420, Washington, DC 20240.

IS