Transcript Julia Fonseca, Office of Sustainability and Conservation, Pima

HCP
Implementation in
Pima County,
Arizona
Julia Fonseca
Pima County Office of
Sustainability and
Conservation
Photo by Aaron Flesch
HCP overview
44 species
(down from 55)
30 years / 36,000 acres
404 streamlining
Avoidance, minimization
and mitigation are
already in place
Pima County, Arizona
9,189 Square Miles
85% land is Federal,
State or tribal
Population: 980,263
Tucson: 6th poorest city
of its size class in US
Tucson
Rapid Growth & Development in
Eastern Pima County, Arizona
The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
elements respond to community values:
Habitat and Corridors
Cultural Resources
Riparian
Ranch
Mountain Parks
Pima County • Pima County Regional Flood Control District • Tohono O’odham Nation • U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service • City of Tucson • Town of Marana • Town of Oro Valley • Metropolitan
Domestic Water District • U. S. Bureau of Land Management • U. S. Forest Service •
Environmental Protection Agency • Arizona Game and Fish Department • National Park Service
Ranch lands define urban form
Habitat and Corridors Element:
To ensure the long-term
survival of the full spectrum of plants and animals that are
indigenous to Pima County through maintaining or improving
ecosystem structures and functions necessary for their survival.
View from Diamond Bell Ranch 2010
Reserve Design Process
Implemented: From Development
Guidelines to 2001 Land Use Plan
1999-2003: Plan
development
2006: Owl delisted
2010: HCP submitted
2012: FWS DEIS
Implemented:
Riparian Mitigation Ordinance
Implemented: $165 million in
Open Space Acquisitions
225,000 acres under management
Experiment: Ranch Management
Land Management Implemented
County mitigation lands have multiple uses
for people as well as wildlife.
Other types of
mitigation land:
Floodprone and In-Lieu
Fee programs
Developer set-asides
Donations
Future bond acquisitions
Future land exchanges
and RPPA acquisitions
Implemented: Cactus Mitigation Bank
County-owned land
For County projects
Established 2002
Banks have a benefit
to Pima County, but a
landscape approach
is better.
Failed Species Restoration Project
Experiment: Removal of Non-native
Frogs in Ranch “Frogsheds”
Process
Improvement:
CIP Impacts
Other Advance Implementation
Invasive species
management
Testing of monitoring
protocols
Database
development
Funding: property
taxes
NEPA Experiment
Public scoping 2000, 2003
County-hosted public
process, 7 draft HCPs
DEIS published 2012
22 comments 2012
Why advance implementation?
Protect habitat before more fragmentation.
Success helps sustains political will and
citizen support.
Implementation creates certainty.
Failure shows what is not “practicable”.
Opportunity for process improvement before
a permit is issued.
Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
http://www.pima.gov/cmo/sdcp/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMl
omLOGFg