The
National Habitat Conservation Plan Coalition Annual Meeting will be held Oct. 16-18 at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Hotel, with Escambia County District 2 Commissioner Doug Underhill serving as a featured speaker.
The NHCP conference was brought to Florida to highlight the Florida Beaches Habitat Conservation Plan and the Perdido Key Habitat Conservation Plan.
“The Perdido Key Habitat Conservation Plan provides a great example of what HCPs can accomplish," Commissioner Underhill said. "HCPs not only protect the environment, but they enable smart development that progresses in harmony with our natural surroundings. Perdido Key has proven that teamwork and planning achieves more than vitriol and politics.”
Featured speakers include:
- Carol Knox, Section Leader for Imperiled Species Management Section of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- Commissioner Doug Underhill, Escambia County
To view an agenda for the conference, click here. To learn more about the Perdido Key Habitat Conservation plan, click here.
Goals of the NHCP include:
- Promote the effective use of large scale HCPs from jurisdictional to regional to multi-state scale plans.
- Increase the understanding of the value of HCPs, including effective species conservation and the streamlining of the permitting processes.
- Reduce the need to list species as endangered or threatened through pro-active conservation measures.
About Habitat Conservation Plans
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation.
Habitat Conservation Plans are planning documents required as a part of an application for a permit to develop within habitat of a threatened or endangered species. An HCP describes the anticipated effects of the proposed development, how the impacts will be minimized and mitigated and how the HCP will be funded. The primary benefit of an HCP is that it provides a predictable permit process for land owners to lawfully utilize their property while providing conservation benefits to the listed species and contributing to their recovery.
