Commissioner stunned by conservation group’s coffers

By Joe Schoenmann

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 | 5:17 p.m.

Jaws dropped Tuesday when Clark County commissioners learned that a county conservation program has banked more than $50 million in research funds, with more than $40 million not targeted for anything.

Collected over nearly two decades from the $550 per-acre fees paid by developers and coming from federal land-swap funds, the money had been targeted toward research that was later abandoned or never started.

Marci Henson, program manager of the Desert Conservation Program and administrator of the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Program, said the money sits in the bank and collects interest.

“Give me a sec while I pick myself off the floor,” Commissioner Steve Sisolak said. He led questioning into the money, an accounting of which was part of the County Commission’s meeting.

“And we need to raise these fees?” he said, referencing an issue the commission is likely to deal with in a few months when an amended multiple-species conservation plan is presented. One idea is to raise developer fees from $550 to $1,600 an acre.

The revelation led commissioners to ask staff to look into other ways it could use the money. The money must be spent on conservation plans established by the federal government, so spending targets are limited.

But Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she was “not joking” in suggesting that staff look into the possibility of purchasing some of the Blue Diamond abandoned gypsum mine property that, against the wishes of many, is being drawn up for development.

The per-acre fees paid by developers were conceived as a way to allow development on federal land despite fears of ruining desert tortoise habitats. Paying the fee allowed developers to “take” or kill tortoises, which are listed as a threatened species, during development without being penalized. During the development boom of the mid-2000s, commissioners established a committee to revise the conservation plan because the land allocated by the federal government was being developed so quickly.