A Plan for All Species
from the North County Times
May 12, 2003

Ten years ago the Multi-Species Conservation Program surfaced in North County. At first I thought it was a joke, a fancy-sounding ruse played on the public by political agencies, developers and wildlife protection advocates.

The first time I heard about it involved a developer building homes in Carlsbad who bought land in Oceanside to be set aside as protected habitat for perpetuity. The land was along the Highway 76 corridor. I thought it was a hoax.

Ten years later, I admit I was wrong.

Former Oceanside Councilwoman Colleen O'Harra recently pointed out just how wrong I was. San Diego County's MSCP has been nationally acclaimed, receiving praise even from the White House. The MSCP uses habitat conservation plans to protect land where endangered species live.

Because our county has so many dramatic geographic areas ---- the ocean, deserts, mountains and meadows ---- a wealth of endangered species call San Diego County home. So there's a corresponding need for land to protect them.

The MSCP guarantees that future generations will have open space to see long after the current building boom subsides.

Land broker Frank Ohrmund said the first habitat conservation plan in North County was executed by Fieldstone builders in Carlsbad 10 years ago. Fieldstone gained approval for a development by setting aside land that was designated as critical habitat.

It was the beginning of a program that Ohrmund says is not perfect, but that provides a structure for wildlife agencies and developers both. The two groups have a peace treaty under which land can be developed and habitat set aside.

In Encinitas, where land is scarce, Mayor Jerome Stocks notes that the value of good habitat has increased in recent years and land "is going for real money. ... An acre can go for $30,000 or more."

With federal and state funds dwindling for the purchase of protected habitat, money is arriving from private landowners. Undeveloped habitat is in such demand that it can be more expensive than other land.

Ten years ago, prime land for habitat had little value in the marketplace. Many owners of land housing protected species viewed that land with skepticism because it had so many restrictions on it.

But as land values rise, habitat has become more valuable. Through the MSCP habitat conservation plan, a landowner could develop property that contained habitat only if he or she replaced it with three or four times more habitat. So the value of habitat has increased.

"There have been purchases of $30,000 per acre for habitat in key environmentally sensitive areas," Ohrmund said. "In some cases, $30,000 isn't the top rate. We've had vernal pools go for $50,000 per acre, because they are more sensitive. In San Diego County they're buying land at a rapid rate, with Riverside and San Bernardino counties slowly spreading the word."

Ohrmund cautions that efforts to sustain protected habitat, whether through conservation purchases, where large blocks of land are bought through government funding; or through mitigation land, which is set aside by developers, is far from complete. But he says, "We're getting the land. Hopefully we can manage it better in the future."

J. Stryker Meyer is a North County Times staff writer.