Collaborative Planning for Wildlife Conservation

Lindell Marsh & Christian Marsh were the guest speakers on October 29, 2007 on our Environmental Planning Class.  They talked about how Collaborative Planning for Wildlife Conservation has come about over the years. Lindell Marsh, a graduate from Hastings College of the Law, has extensive experience in issues related to the environment specifically to natural resources and  land use.[1] Christian Marsh, Lindell's son, also has extensive experience on matters related to natural resources.

Lindell Marsh started the presentation by talking a little bit about the history of planning.  He pointed out that World War II was characterized as a period of unrestrained development.  Development continue growing with "no limits" until the Environmental Revolution started with the creation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969.  NEPA was then followed by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 1970. Lindell described both NEPA and CEQA as "the seeds of a different planning logic" that would change completely how development and planning are carried out taking into great consideration the effects on the environment.

Mr. Marsh also talked about the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, the first habitat conservation plan in the United States.  Lindell played a major role in the development of the San Bruno Mountain HCP approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1983.  The plan was a  three-year long collaborative process between three cities, a county, many landowners, resources agencies as well as conservation groups.  The San Bruno Mountain HCP was composed of the plan, an agreement, and an environmental assessment and report.  The agreement for the plan was for thirty years, and it covered 51 species (listed and unlisted).

Towards the end of the presentation Mr. Marsh and his son both talked about 4 elements essential to successful strategic collaborative planning.  The four elements are: 1) "Collaboration web"-gathering the group of affected agencies and interested, 2)"Dialogue," 3)"Visions and Initiatives," 4)"Scoping."

I felt that the presentation overall was very informative and interesting because Mr. Lindell Marsh and Mr. Christian Marsh have both extensive experience and knowledge on the topic.

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Sources:

[1] Lindell L. Marsh, 

http://lindellmarsh.com/lm/index.htm [Accessed December 5, 2007].