Commissioners Court - Regular Session

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30.

Meeting Date:	03/05/2013
response by WCCF to USFWS Draft Economic Analysis
Submitted For:	Gary Boyd	Submitted By:	Gary Boyd, Parks
Department:	Parks
Agenda Category:	Regular Agenda Items

Information

Agenda Item

Hear report, discuss and take appropriate action to concur with response to US Fish and Wildlife Draft Economic Analysis (DEA) by the Williamson County Conservation Foundation on behalf of the county.

Background

The Williamson County Conservation Foundation (WCCF) is preparing a written response to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Draft Economic Analysis (DEA) on the listing of four central texas salamander species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This response must be submitted during the current public comment period, ending March 11. The DEA is required under the Endangered Species Act whenever a species is proposed for listing and critical habitat units are a part of the proposed listing.

The report will have two components: a review of the USFWS DEA and identification of flaws in that report, and a separate estimate of the true cost of critical habitat designation for the Jollyville Plateau and Georgetown salamanders in Williamson County.

Significant flaws identified during the analysis include the following:
• Calculation errors
• Omission of agricultural, farm, ranch, and rural lands from the "developable lands" that may be impacted by the designation, an omission resulting in a gross underestimation of impacted acres.

Also, in its approximation of economic impacts the DEA underestimates the cost of consultation with the FWS - a cost typically shouldered by land owners including governmental entities, school districts, the state and private individuals - by an order of magnitude.

Because of the relatively short comment period and the scale of effort required for analyzing the DEA, the WCCF response will be ready for submission about March 9. The deadline for submissions is Monday, March 11.

Fiscal Impact

From/To	Acct No.	Description	Amount

Attachments
No file(s) attached.

Form Review

Inbox	Reviewed By	Date
County Judge Exec Asst.	Wendy Coco	02/28/2013 10:34 AM
Form Started By: Gary Boyd		Started On: 02/28/2013 07:58 AM
Final Approval Date: 02/28/2013