Professor Emeritus Martin Wachs, then-Urban Planning student Shira Bergstein, UCLA Urban Planning Ph.D. Alumnus Dan Chatman, and UC Berkeley graduate studentApril Mo recently completed the first phase of a study examining whether the process of environmental reviews and approvals for infrastructure projects has proven to be quicker where Habitat Conservation Plans exist than in comparable cases where they do not.
Habitat Conservation Plans set aside areas of land to protect the habitats of endangered and threatened species. Over the past decade, 20 or more large Habitat Conservation areas have been established in an effort to both preserve endangered environments and to facilitate the construction of important infrastructure like highways and transit lines, by “streamlining” the environmental review process that is required under the National Environmental Protection Act.
The completed study reviewed the legislation and financing of habitat conservation plans and found that they are being undertaken far more frequently than in the past. Wachs says that “they appear to reduce infrastructure costs and speed the construction of infrastructure in areas where there are endangered species that will be affected.”
In ongoing research, Wachs and UCLA Urban Planning Ph.D. student Jaimee Lederman are conducting interviews with those who have established such reserves in order to better document their benefits and costs.