Type: report

Article abstract: The City of San Diego (City) Vernal Pool Habitat Conservation Plan (VPHCP) is intended to provide an effective framework to protect, enhance, and restore vernal pool resources in specific areas of San Diego, while improving and streamlining the environmental permitting process for impacts to threatened and endangered species associated with vernal pools. The City developed this VPHCP to provide for the long-term conservation, management, and monitoring of these species and avoid costly delays and uncertainty associated with a project-by-project approach toward vernal pool conservation. Implementation of the VPHCP will preserve a network of vernal pool habitat in a matrix of open space; protect the biodiversity of these unique wetlands; and define a formal strategy for their long-term conservation, management, and monitoring. The VPHCP is a conservation plan for vernal pools and seven threatened and endangered covered species that do not have federal coverage under the City’s Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Subarea Plan (SAP), including five plant and two crustacean species.