HCP Facts

The Benefits
HCPs protect our economy

HCPs successfully address the growing tensions between private landowners and the protection of listed species.

• Private landowners contribute land and funding for ongoing management in return for the right to use other lands, generally of less biological significance.
• Wildlife agencies get ownership of valuable resource land and/or control over its use, plus funding for ongoing studies and resource management.
• With these plans, all interested parties get "a seat at the table" including environmental groups, private landowners, and public officials.

HCPs have been proven to protect and nurture endangered species and help preclude the need for future listings.

• One HCP in Southern California has led to dramatic increases in threatened California gnatcatcher populations: from 2,562 pairs in 1994 to between 5,000 and 6,000 pairs today.
• This year, Colorado River stakeholders approved a long-term HCP that will provide $600 million for the protection of endangered species on the lower Colorado River. Such cooperative conservation ends several decades of litigation and infighting over how best to conserve wildlife habitat while accommodating municipal and agriculture use of water and power from the River.