Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan

Article Draft

The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan (SCVHCP), also know as the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan, was an initiative issued in 2012 by the County of Santa Clara Valley, City of San José, the City of Morgan Hill, the City of Gilroy, the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). These agencies are collectively known as the "Local Partners" in the SCVHCP. The governmental agencies are collectively called the "Local Partners" in regards to the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan. The plan was created to protect and encourage the growth of endangered species in Santa Clara County. It is a 50-year plan, costing an estimated $660 million as of 2012.

Background

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that the local agencies create a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that cover all or most of Santa Clara Country to earn approval for other development projects, such as widening U.S. Highway 101. The USFWS suggested that an HCP was needed to mitigate the potential impact of urban development on federally-protected species in the area. In 2004, Santa Clara County, the City of San Jose, VTA, and SCVWD signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which stated that the HCP or natural community conservation plan (NCCP) would cover multiple species and habitats. By 2005, the City of Gilroy and the City of Morgan Hill signed into the MOU, making them the fifth and sixth members of the Local Partners. In October of 2005, the USFWS, CDFW, and the Local Partners signed the Planning Agreement. The Planning Agreement was the foundational work for the future HCP/NCCP. This Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan states that the Planning Agreement had five main purposes: it sets goals, objectives, and obligations; estimated a preliminary geographic scope, natural, communities and species; required the Local Partners USFWS, and the CDFW to work together; made "concurrent" plans for wetlands; and "...established a process for inclusion of scientific input and public participation."

Compliance with Previous Environmental Policies

The Planning Agreement was designed to adhere to the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), and the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (NCCPA). The SCVHCP planned to satisfying the requirements in the ESA by specifying impact on federally-protected species, creating a comprehensive plan on mitigation measures, designate funding to mitigation, create contingency plans, and explain why other, alternative methods are no longer deemed viable. The California Endangered Species Act, in regards to its application to the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan, address the act of taking CESA-listed threated or endangered plants and animals. Section 86 of the California Fish and Game Code (FGC) define take as "hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill." The SCVHCP had to acknowledge instances of take by creating mitigation measures for potential impacts from take. To comply with the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act, the SCVHCP must "be consistent with the Planning Agreement," along with eight other findings.

Ordinances with Other Environmental Policies

The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan also had to comply with: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act; California Fish and Game Code Sections 3511, 4700, 5050, 5515; California Fish and Game Code Section 3503 and 3503.5; the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970; the Clean Water Act of 1972 Sections 401 and 404; the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act; California Fish and Game Code Sections 1600–1616; and the National Historic Preservation Act.

List of Protected Species

Eighteen species are covered by the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan. There is one species of invertebrate (Bay Checkerspot Butterfly), four species of amphibians or reptiles (California Tiger Salamander, California Red-legged Frog, Foothill Yellow-legged Frog, and Western Pond Turtle), three species of birds (Least Bell’s Vireo, Tricolored Blackbird, and Western Burrowing Owl), and one species of mammal (San Joaquin Kit Fox). Nine species of plants (Coyote Ceanothus, Fragrant Fritillary, Loma Prieta Hoita, Metcalf Canyon Jewelflower, Most Beautiful Jewelflower, Mount Hamilton Thistle, Santa Clara Valley Dudleya, Smooth Lessingia, and Tiburon Indian Paintbrush) are covered by the SCVHCP.

Water Management

SCVHCP and the Three Creeks Habitat Conservation Plan

A main goal of the SCVHCP is to "preserve and enhance watersheds to protect beneficial uses of water and to provide flood protection for Santa Clara County." Because the protected areas overlap, the SCVHCP and the Three Creeks Habitat Conservation Plan. These overlapping areas are the Coyote Watershed, the Guadalupe Watershed, and the Stevens Creek Watershed. The SCVHP covers activities in the Three. Activities in the SCVHCP are describes as development projects divided into seven categories: "urban development, in-stream capital projects, in-stream operations and maintenance, rural capital projects, rural operation and maintenance, rural development, and conservation strategy implementation." The Three Creeks HCP contains a program for the "impacts of SCVWD’s operation and maintenance of eight reservoirs, multiple diversions dams and drop structures and associated facilities...[and a] extensive system of off-channel recharge ponds, and facilities that provide for water to be released to various channels."