Dear HCN,
Your article on
Washington County’s Habitat Conservation Plan in southern Utah
(HCN, 8/30/99) failed to make it clear that the plan is already
successfully protecting tortoises inside the 61,000-acre Red Cliffs
Desert Reserve and that the county is working further to reduce
impacts to tortoises.
With the help of federal,
state and local agencies, Washington County has been coordinating
fencing for the BLM outside the reserve to protect endangered
plants; given over 40 classes to over 1,700 schoolkids and related
parties on tortoises and other wildlife in the reserve; paid for
and put up 250 signs throughout the reserve so people know where it
stops and ends; participated in the creation of the Snow Canyon
State Park management plan; cleared over 1,000 acres of ground
slated for development outside the reserve and moved over 130
tortoises out of harm’s way; cooperated with the USFWS in
translocating healthy tortoises to new areas; funded a BLM
law-enforcement position at $65,000 a year to patrol the reserve;
along with key cities, passed 10 ordinances and seven inter-local
agreements that directly or indirectly help
tortoises.
I point out these accomplishments so
people will understand that we’ve been successful and that we have
built a highly effective, collaborative partnership that operates
out in the open, finds solutions and gets things done with minimal
bureaucracy. We are now in the process of carefully configuring
recreational trails around not just sensitive tortoise habitat but
other sensitive species as well, by way of a balanced team of
biologists and recreationists nominated by our
communities.
If there is any single lesson
learned by the success of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and its
associated HCP, it is that you must give the local community,
especially when they are the ones footing the bill, the opportunity
to be a meaningful part of the process. You must also give them
some sense of ownership, as well as pride and credit for the
outcome.
Bill
Mader
St. George,
Utah
Bill Mader is a
Washington County administrator. For the full text of this letter,
see our Web page at www.hcn.org.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Locals do it better.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
