How our county may save at-risk species

An end may be getting near for Thurston County’s eight-years-long effort to create a habitat protection plan for at least a dozen at-risk species.

Habitat for the the Mazama pocket gopher and other species has shrunk greatly in oak and prairie grass areas.

County officials submitted their 2018 proposed Habitat Conservation Plan with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a little over a week ago.

The HCP, as it’s called, can protect habitat but also give predictability for land-use permitting decisions in zones where at-risk or rare species are places to live.

Included for protection are species of the Mazama pocket gopher, several species of butterfly including two species of skipper, birds including a nuthatch and a streaked horned lark, and a frog (see page 15, HCP - online at https://tinyurl.com/ycyk42a2).

Habitat has been disappearing for many reasons. Culprits include human development, but encroaching non-native species have also displaced habitat.

To their credit, county staff and the three county commissioners are taking a long-term strategy to protecting habitats before even more restrictive actions are needed.

This is essential because our county is sure to gain tens of thousands of new residents, intensifying pressure on habitat, over the next 30 years.

Until the plan is approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, land owners face an extremely cumbersome – and often costly – process to develop their properties in rural areas that overlap the critical habitat areas.

Going it alone on a parcel by parcel basis can require a very expensive site survey to identify how many individual gophers or members of another species are found on the land.

At least a year is needed for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to carefully review and approve the HCP.

The USFWS plans time for public comments before it decides whether the county plan is adequate, according to Brad Thompson, deputy state supervisor for the agency’s Washington office, located in Lacey.

Once a plan is approved, both county government and land owners can breathe easier. That is because an HCP is key to granting Thurston County a a special “takings” permit to cover incidents when a protected animal or plant is inadvertently killed or its habitat disrupted.

Otherwise the county or landowner is at risk of lawsuits or prosecution for violating the Endangered Species Act .

Remarkable as it seems, Thurston County began its habitat conservation work back in 2010.

An initial draft HCP, made public in 2016, stirred a political hornet’s nest. In part that’s due to its price tag — an estimated $154 million for local government and affected land owners over 30 years.

One county commission candidate, Gary Edwards, won election in part by running against the plan that year; he wanted to sue the federal government to get out from under the ESA.

The commission since has come to its senses and faced up to reality.

The new plan is estimated to cost $55 million in local funds, including higher building permit fees, over 30 years. But that is less than $2 million a year, well below the original $5 million yearly price.

Joshua Cummings, director of county Community Planning & Economic Development, said costs were reduced several ways.

One was by zeroing in on critical areas having a potential for incidental “takings” — or killing — of a listed plant or animal species.

The new plan was also shaped by data collected in recent years from surveys of various pocket-gopher sites.

The HCP political controversy is far from over. Thurston County commissioners want to use Conservation Futures Fund money to cover a large share, about $32 million, over 30 years. Higher building permit fees will cover other costs.

Conservation Futures fees are collected from property owners and are typically used to protect key habitats around the county. This goal is often achieved by buying conservation easements or purchasing lands outright.

Diverting a major portion of the fees to cover the HCP for 30 years will greatly limit the county’s ability to protect other land.

But if the proposal passes muster, it can end permit uncertainty and create networks of habitat that provide a better chance of long-term survival for at-risk species.

The value of the gopher is not always well understood. But its role in the ecology of prairie grasslands is great, according to one summary prepared by the Capitol Land Trust for its fall 2013 newsletter.

The trust describes the burrowing animal as an “ ’ecosystem engineer,’ profoundly benefiting these grasslands in several ways — enriching the soil, and enhancing native plant and animal diversity and abundance.”

Those who grasp the importance of sustaining a larger web of life may see these HCP costs as a burden, but a necessary one.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was revised to fix garbled wording and make clear the skipper is a butterfly.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 4:09 PM.