Balancing Environment and Development: Costs, Revenues, and Benefits of the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan

The Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan
(MSHCP) is an ambitious effort to balance development and environmental
concerns in an area of rapid urban growth. In return for setting up a
500,000-acre conservation reserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
the California Department of Fish and Game granted the county and cities in
western Riverside County a 75-year "take" permit for endangered species. The
take permit allows the cities and county to approve development projects
outside the reserve that could negatively affect 146 sensitive plant and
animal species. The plan is supposed to speed the frequently time-consuming
and litigious process of permitting new highway and development projects
while establishing an integrated conservation reserve rather than the
patchwork of uncoordinated reserves that was so often the case in the past.
The Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority (RCA) acquires
land for and manages the reserve. This monograph examines the value of the
land needed for the reserve, the financial consequences of acquiring the
land over different periods of time, and the projected costs of operating
the reserve. It compares projected costs and revenues and identifies
potential funding sources to fill any resulting funding gap. It also
examines the prospect for achieving the MSHCP's habitat-conservation goals
and whether the MSHCP has, in fact, streamlined the permitting processes.
Finally, it identifies issues that the RCA Board of Directors, RCA staff,
and stakeholders should address to ensure the plan's success and the ongoing
economic and ecological health of the county.