Editorial: Credible view on conservation plan

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

Not many residents of Southern Nevada thought in 1989 that a heated dispute then -- over whether to protect the desert tortoise -- would result someday in such a positive outcome. But Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt visited Southern Nevada Wednesday, lauding Clark County's extension of a conservation plan to protect threatened species. That 6-year-old plan requires developers to pay $550 per acre of desert tortoise habitat that is disturbed. The latest plan to receive Babbitt's blessing will extend this protection even more, covering 78 additional plants and animals that are threatened, but not yet on the endangered species list.

As Sun reporter Adrienne Packer noted in a story about Babbitt's visit, Clark County's desert tortoise protection plan was the genesis for the new policy, which is the second-largest conservation plan in the nation. The mitigation fees help fund the implementation and maintenance of a desert area where threatened species can be relocated for their survival. One of the toughest challenges for metropolitan areas in the West is how to balance the need for growth versus the importance of protecting wildlife, which might be in the path of new housing and commercial development. Clark County's approach to a sensible conservation plan hasn't been easy, but so far it has been well worth the trouble.