The Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) and Incidental Take Permit are being amended. The public is invited to attend informational meetings currently being planned throughout January and February 2025.  These meetings will educate Clark County residents and stakeholders about the changes being proposed.  This is an opportunity for our community to participate in the process and provide feedback prior to the submission of the final amendment application.  If you would like to be notified directly once the meeting dates and times are confirmed, please complete this simple interest form.

What is a Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit?

Habitat conservation plans and incidental take permits are components of the Endangered Species Act. Under Section 9 of the Act, it is illegal to conduct activities that may impact species listed as threatened or endangered unless a permit is issued.  An incidental take permit is one of the types of permits that can be issued. Specifically, this type of permit is issued to non-federal entities, such as local government or private developers, and it allows them to carry out development activities that may result in impacts to species that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.  To receive an incidental take permit, an applicant must prepare a habitat conservation plan, which describes measures the applicant will take to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts to threatened and endangered species covered by the permit.

For more than 30 years, the Clark County Desert Conservation Program has administered habitat conservation plans and incidental take permits that facilitate development activities in Clark County while protecting imperiled species. To learn more about the history of the program and these plans click here.

The current plan is the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP), and it went into effect on February 1, 2001. The MSHCP and associated incidental take permit allow for up to 145,000 acres of development for a term of 30 years. While this was a landmark plan for conservation in the County, the MSHCP is nearing the end of the permit term and thus, there is a need to update the MSHCP and to secure a new incidental take permit.

Why amend the MSHCP?

The process to obtain an amended MSHCP began in 2007. At the time, development in the County was occurring at a very rapid pace, and incidental take was dramatically outpacing projections. By 2007 more than 45 percent of the development authorized for the 30-year term had been exhausted in less than 7 years. While development dramatically slowed during the Great Recession, the local economy has since recovered and the pace of development in Clark County continues to be one of the highest in the Country. As of September 2024, 127,549 acres of development have been reported, or approximately 88% of the total permitted acres.

                       

Additional incidental take authorization (i.e., acres of development) is needed largely to reduce the gap between what is currently permitted and the amount of land that is available for development in Clark County. The Bureau of Land Management identifies lands for disposal in their Resource Management Plan. Under the 1998 Resource Management Plan disposal boundaries are identified which are in excess of what is currently permitted for development by the MSHCP and incidental take permit. These disposal boundaries, in combination with private and local development interests, have resulted in a gap of approximately 200,000 acres more than what is currently permitted.

The desert tortoise remains the principal species driving the need for an MSHCP and the need to obtain additional incidental take authorization. While the habitat of the desert tortoise is wide-ranging, the amount of habitat available for incidental take is not infinite. The increasing pressures being placed on desert tortoise habitat across its range, in conjunction with recent reports highlighting the continuing decline of the species, combine to make obtaining additional incidental take more difficult. Therefore, the MSHCP must be amended in order to address the acreage gap and to continue to guide orderly development within the County while securing long-term assurances that would provide for continued economic growth and opportunity within the County while protecting the desert tortoise and other imperiled species.

What do we hope to achieve by pursuing an amendment to the MSHCP?

The primary goals for pursuing an amended MSHCP and incidental take permit are:

1. To obtain coverage for acres that are not currently permitted for incidental take. Existing and proposed disposal boundaries, combined with undeveloped private land and other development interests have resulted in a gap of approximately 200,000 acres of potentially available land in excess of what is currently permitted.
2. To reduce the number of species covered by the MSHCP to focus on those most at risk. The current list of covered species is very large and not all covered species are similarly impacted by non-federal development activities. Through the amendment process, the list of covered species will be refined to include those that are most impacted by development and would thus benefit the greatest from coverage under an amended MSHCP.
3. To revise the conservation strategy to improve mitigation effectiveness and accountability. Policies and regulations have changed since the MSHCP and incidental take permit became effective in 2001. And taking into consideration the proposed increase in permitted development and changes to the covered species list, the conservation strategy will need to be revised to ensure that impacts are avoided, minimized, and mitigated to the maximum extent practicable.
4. Secure a new permit term of 50 years. The Desert Conservation Program will request a permit term of 50 years for the MSHCP amendment, which would provide a few benefits. First, preparing a regional habitat conservation plan of this scale is costly and time consuming. An increased permit term would provide assurances that we would not have to undergo this process again for quite some time. Additionally, increasing the permit term to 50 years would provide long-term assurances under the “no surprises” clause of the Endangered Species Act.

Current status of the amendment process:

Since 2009, the Desert Conservation Program has met regularly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and our contractors to discuss options and alternatives for developing the MSHCP amendment, for implementing a reserve system for the protection of imperiled species, and to develop drafts of the application package and various agreements that will be necessary for carrying out the amended MSHCP. An analysis of the proposed Covered Species list and drafts of all major components of the MSHCP amendment have been completed. The Desert Conservation Program also continues to work with the Bureau of Land Management to designate the reserve system, which is a critical component of the amended MSHCP conservation strategy.  The Desert Conservation Program is pursuing both legislative and administrative means of establishing these areas.

Next steps:

The Desert Conservation Program continues to work with federal agencies and its contractors to refine models that will be used in the analysis of impacts, to refine the conservation strategy, and to development a comprehensive adaptive management and monitoring program to ensure that the plan is effective in meeting goals and objectives. A draft of all MSHCP amendment chapters and drafts of the various agreements that will be necessary to carry out provisions of the plan have been completed.

Over the next few months, we will engage interested parties and stakeholders to review the changes being proposed and to solicit feedback on the MSHCP amendment application package. This public engagement process, and feedback received during the process, will be summarized in a report and presented to the Board of County Commissioners in March/April 2025 for direction. If authorized by the Board, final revisions will be made to the application package, and it will be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Once the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) receives the complete application package, they will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that analyzes the potential impacts of implementing the MSHCP amendment and issuing a new incidental take permit. The Draft EIS will be made available to the public for review and comment for a period of not less than 90 days. During the public review period, the USFWS will host public meetings to present the findings of the Draft EIS and to collect public comments on the draft MSHCP amendment and Draft EIS. The EIS process is expected to require a minimum of two years to complete.