Photo credit: Steve Martarano/ USFWS
Susan Moore, Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office, and Richard G. Sykes, Manager of Natural Resources for EBMUD, sign the historic Safe Harbor Agreement at Pardee Reservoir in Amador County on June 2.
June 2, 2009
A Safe Harbor Agreement (SHA), covering 28,000 acres of East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) land in the Mokelumne watershed in parts of three counties, was signed on June 2, 2009. The SHA is the largest in California and is among the largest single-owner SHAs in the country. The 30-year agreement will help three species federally listed as threatened: the valley elderberry longhorn beetle, California red-legged frog, and California tiger salamander. Under this SHA, EBMUD will enhance, create, and manage habitat for these three species and receive a permit authorizing the incidental take of these species during specific maintenance and operation activities. SHAs encourage private and other non-federal property owners to conserve the habitat of protected species by assuring that the owners will not incur increased property use restrictions if their efforts attract and help listed species on their property.
Michael Bean, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) who worked to develop the SHA concept, played a major role in bringing the Fish and Wildlife Service and EBMUD together for this agreement. Bean recently joined federal service as counsel to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks for Endangered Species Act matters.
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