Property Rights, Political Fragmentation and the Endangered Species Act

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SBR-9512033 Andrew E.G. Jonas Thomas A. Scott University of California Riverside Property Rights, Political Fragmentation and the Endangered Species Act This project develops a political analysis of local implementation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the research investigates the roles of stakeholders in developing and approving a habitat conservation plan as mandated by the Act. The research design entails an intensive, quantitative and qualitative, case study focused on the habitat conservation plan for the Stephens' kangaroo rat in western Riverside County, California. This case study includes the circumstances of rapid suburban development and associated environmental change, and political fragmentation. Political fragmentation is manifested in the number of general-purpose municipalities and special-purpose districts that have a role in developing and approving land-use plans and conservation plans. Archival data of the plan's development will be augmented by geographic analysis of the affected area to determine land-ownership and land interests in the affected area, and by participant observation of the public components of the conservation planning process. The study attempts to evaluate the sustainability of this kind of local policy formulation in the face of rapid development, wide variation of interests, and shifts in public discourse on ecological preservation.