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Montana DNRC Forested State Trust Lands
Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)
What is an HCP?
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) prohibits government agencies and private citizens from "taking" federally-listed endangered species. Under the ESA, "take" is defined as harassment, harm, pursuit, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting of any threatened or endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has established that harm may include significant habitat modification, in which activities actually kill or injure a listed species through impairment of essential behavior (e.g., nesting or reproduction).
A 1982 amendment to the ESA allows government agencies and private citizens to apply to the USFWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service for Incidental Take Permits (Permits) in situations where otherwise lawful activities might result in the take of federally-listed species. A Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is a required component of the Permit application. The HCP specifies the species and geographic area to be covered and the conservation strategies that will be followed to avoid, minimize, and/or mitigate incidental take.
