In This Issue

Join your colleagues for the Coalition’s 2025 Annual Meeting: Moving Forward Together from October 15–17, 2025 at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The Coalition is looking forward to three days of informal collaboration and practical sessions ranging from habitat management techniques to legislative advocacy to data collection and monitoring.

See below for a sneak peek of the agenda topics!

Day 1 - October 15

• Pollinators in Peril
• From the Ashes: Understanding Wildfire and Its Impacts on Ecosystems
• Energy Sector HCPs
• Alternatives to HCPs through Section 10: Conservation Benefit Agreements, Safe Harbor Agreements, and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances 
• Panel Discussion - Unique Challenges with Developing and Implementing Aquatic HCPs
• Updates from the USFWS Headquarters

Day 2 - October 16

• Panel Discussion: Effective Annual Reporting to Communicate to Regulators, Elected Officials, and Stakeholders
• Panel Discussion: Adaptively Managing Preserves to Respond to Environmental Conditions
• Wildlife Corridors and Connectivity
• Integrating Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act Compliance: Streamlined Conservation and Regulatory Efficiency
• Out of Sight, Not Out of Danger: Managing Species in Cryptic Habitats

Day 3 - October 17

• "Moving Forward Together" - Morning Hike to the Potomac River
• Protecting the Nest: Habitat Planning for Listed Bird Species
• Lessons Learned

Nominations are open for the Coalition Board of Directors! Elections will take place during the Coalition’s 2025 Annual Meeting. Submit nominations, along with a short biography, to Samantha Pitts by close of business on October 10th.  

Collaborate with Coalition Colleagues

Are you looking to play a key role in developing strategies to improve the efficiency of HCP planning and implementation at the national level, help plan the Annual Meeting, or engage in federal advocacy efforts? Join a Committee! Please email nhcpcoalition@gmail.com indicating in which committee you are interested.

The NHCPC Survey is now open—please take a few minutes to share your feedback. A few years ago, the Coalition conducted an in-person feedback event at our Annual Meeting, but has not undertaken a systematic effort to hear from HCP practitioners since then. This is your chance to let us know the challenges you face, opportunities to get engaged, and how the organization can best support your work. Responses are confidential and reported only in aggregate, but your input will directly shape the Coalition’s priorities and advocacy. The survey is open to members and non-members alike, so feel free to share widely!

The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan (Plan), a regional Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) managed by the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency (Agency) focuses on landscape-scale conservation and reduces per-acre mitigation costs while protecting more acres of habitat and stream miles than would be possible without the Plan. Since its adoption in 2013, the Agency has issued 450+ permits (supporting approximately 5,500 new residential housing units), protected over 16,000 acres, and implemented 10 restoration projects. The Plan includes a Regional General Permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for streamlined Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permitting. The Agency also recently secured approval of an In-Lieu-Fee Program (ILF) through the Corps. 

With the United States facing a historic housing shortage, including a gap of about five million single family homes and 7.1 million affordable rentals, HCPs offer a promising solution by streamlining permitting for housing projects that impact federal and state listed species. Through multi-year programmatic permits, HCPs improve both economic development and conservation outcomes, enabling faster housing development while ensuring environmental protection. HCPs can also align mitigation efforts across regulatory agencies. The benefits of large-scale regional HCPs like the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan are clear: regional HCPs deliver more homes, faster permitting, and stronger conservation outcomes – a win-win for housing and the environment.

For over 10 years, Pierce County has worked with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and local tribes to refine multiple drafts of the Pierce County HCP and NEPA Environmental Assessment (EA), with careful consideration of the impacts analysis and mitigation approach. During the 2024 Coalition Annual Meeting, Pierce County shared insights on “the good” and “the bad” of developing an HCP to help other HCP professionals learn from Pierce County’s experience - what worked well and what could have been improved. 

Building on these lessons, Pierce County is now celebrating a major milestone": in July 2025, the USFWS published the HCP and draft NEPA EA in the Federal Register for public comment. The team is shifting its focus toward permit issuance, but still has a long road ahead, including addressing public comments and finalizing decision documents and permits with NMFS and USFWS. 

The small but mighty Pierce County team is grateful for the dedication from NMFS and USFWS staff to reach this important milestone - especially amid staffing uncertainties - and looks forward to advancing the HCP toward implementation.