The Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District is rolling out it's Habitat Conservation Plan for the Fender's Blue Butterfly, led by Amie Loo-Frison, HCP project manager, as she describes in a recent News-Register article:
Yamhill County residents have a huge advantage over most private landowners in Oregon because they can receive free planning assistance and obtain an incidental take permit from a local entity, YSWCD [(Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District)]. No lawyers, no fees, no trips to Portland, no sitting through lengthy meetings — everything is free and local.
As part of the grant, YSWCD will provide free, no-obligation surveys on private land during the spring and early summer of 2011 and 2012 to check for the presence of Kincaid’s lupine and Fender’s blue butterfly. The district will learn more about biological requirements and distributions of these species in the county, seek to understand how agricultural and other land use practices may benefit them and promote effective conservation. Survey data could lead to downlisting or delisting of both species. Surveys also are a means for landowners to learn more about the habitats and species their property supports.
Landowners can register for a survey online at www.yamhillswcd.org, after which they will be contacted to set a date. Results of the survey will be reported to the landowner but will not be shared with federal agencies unless the landowner chooses to participate in the HCP. This level of confidentiality is highly unusual and reflects the respect that USFWS has for private property rights here in Yamhill County.
YSWCD will host its first public meeting on the butterfly issue at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, in the McMinnville Community Center. The meeting will include a short presentation and a chance to ask questions. We also will host a tour of prairie sites in May. Check our website for updates.
To help guide the completion of the HCP, we plan to form a Stakeholder Advisory Committee made up of local citizens. For more information, please contact me at amie.loop-frison@or.nacdnet.net or 503-472-1474, ext.113.
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