Endangered Species Laws

 

EMS has been engaged in the development and implementation of numerous Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) under the federal Endangered Species Act and similar plans under the California Endangered Species Act and California’s Natural Community Conservation Planning Act.  We have also shepherded many ESA Section 7 consultations through the process.  We tend to specialize in assisting large landowners and local and state governments in their efforts to develop conservation plans or programs on a regional or landscape-scale, and we are known for our pioneering work on these types of plans.  We have been engaged in some of the largest and most complex planning processes in the country, including the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which will address the goals of improved reliability of water supply and restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, and the California Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which covers the development of renewable energy projects throughout the Mojave and Colorado deserts.  We are currently working on seventeen conservation plans in three Western states.  We also served at the behest of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on a 23-member panel convened by the Keystone Center to develop recommendations for a potential reauthorization of the ESA.