Babbitt OKs plan to balance wildlife, growth

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

Ten years of sometimes turbulent discussions on how to protect desert wildlife paid off Wednesday when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed Clark County's Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

"I'm here simply to salute your efforts; it's really extraordinary," Babbitt told dignitaries and wildlife experts who gathered at Red Rock Canyon. "Clark County's a model that must continue throughout the West."

The county adopted a plan six years ago that requires developers to pay $550 per acre of desert tortoise habitat that is disturbed.

The plan signed Wednesday extends the mitigation fee to cover 78 more plants and animals that are threatened but not yet on the federal endangered species list. The county estimates 5 million acres include the targeted species.

Wildlife activists hope aggressively protecting the species today will prevent them from being placed on the federal list, a status that could halt growth and development in Southern Nevada.

"This is a proactive conservation plan, not reactive," said Cynthia Truelove, a county comprehensive planner who oversees the plan. "We're buying an insurance policy on these species."

Like many in attendance Babbitt remembers the uproar in 1989 when desert tortoises were given emergency status on the endangered-species list. Major construction projects -- including the development of Summerlin -- were stopped, ranchers' cattle were not permitted to graze and the mining industry suffered.

Paul Selzer, a California attorney, was called in to facilitate creation of the conservation plan. Among his responsibilities was to convince off-road enthusiasts, ranchers and developers why tortoises were worth saving.

Selzer recalled Wednesday meetings that were held in the Clark County Courthouse so that metal detectors could be used. During one discussion, a man threatened Selzer, holding his hand as if he had a gun.

"The guy said, 'Some people don't understand anything unless it comes out of a 9 mm gun,' " said Selzer, now amused by the conflict.

The desert tortoise protection plan was the building block for the new policy, which makes Clark County owners of the second-largest conservation plan in the nation. The plan will help the county fund the creation and maintenance of a desert area where species will be relocated for survival and recovery.

Truelove emphasized that the plan is still in its early stages; it eventually will cover 200 plants and animals.

Babbitt commended the county for pursuing additional species after the controversial desert tortoise plan.

"My initial reaction was (to tell the county), 'Take a step down and see if you can get unhooked from the caffeine addiction,' " Babbitt joked.