Local solutions to land use conflict under the Endangered Species Act: Habitat conservation planning in Riverside Count

The listing of the Stephens' kangaroo rat (SKR) as endangered in 1988 created conflicts between development and conservation interests and led to the development of a regional habitat conservation plan (HCP) in Riverside County, California. Qualitative (intensive) research methods are used to identify the principal causal groups in the plan and to help explain the resulting pattern of reserve spaces. Through interviews with local stakeholders, review of legal cases, government documents and maps, mail surveys of property owners and registered voters, and participant observation at public hearings, the research identifies local interests in conservation, development and property ownership, and also examines how these interests were represented in the plan. Property ownership is an issue in conservation planning because there are significant amounts of critical habitat that are also privately owned land. Legal and political factors pertaining to property ownership strain the abilities of stakeholders to reach ecologically acceptable solutions to conflicts. Conservation planning may require open space regulations to protect habitat. Such restrictions, if seen by the courts as depriving owners of their property, may expose regulatory agencies to litigation. Local governments implementing conservation plans depend upon revenues generated by development to provide municipal services. HCP's also depend upon development-related mitigation fees to acquire and manage reserves. Conservation planners may be forced to rely on lands already in public ownership as reserve locations rather than selecting reserves on the basis of habitat value.