Last week the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan (SSHCP) was awarded $994,500 in Section 6 grant funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior to support ongoing planning efforts to protect over 48,000 acres of high-quality species habitat and establish a largely intact and interconnected preserve system.

Announced August 24, 2011 by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, funding for the SSHCP is part of more than $53 million in grants awarded to conservation programs across the nation. The grants will support conservation planning and acquisition of vital habitat for threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants.

Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) said, “The SSHCP is an important planning document for the Sacramento region; one that will protect and enhance Sacramento County’s unique natural resources while allowing the region to achieve carefully planned economic development. I am pleased that our region was awarded this grant to continue its work on this important project.”

Awarded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund (CESCF), the grants enable states to work with private landowners, conservation groups, and other agencies to initiate cost-effective conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species.

Local species to benefit from this grant include the vernal pool fairy shrimp, giant garter snake, California tiger salamander, valley elderberry longhorn beetle, and Sacramento orcutt grass (Orcuttia viscida), an aromatic annual grass endemic to Sacramento County which grows only in vernal pools.

The SSHCP will maintain intact watersheds and sub watersheds to ensure the continuity of hydrological regimes that many covered species, especially vernal pool and riparian species, depend upon.

For more information, contact Stacey McKinley, Project Manager at (916) 605-9652 or via email at Stacey.McKinley@gmail.com.

About the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan (SSHCP)
The SSHCP is a regional planning effort that will provide development and infrastructure projects with streamlined federal and state resource permitting processes while creating a preserve system to protect habitat, open space, and agricultural lands. The SSHCP will consolidate conservation and mitigation efforts to create a large and interconnected reserve system that will maintain the long term viability of the County’s plant and wildlife species.

The effort is lead by a multi-jurisdictional group including the County of Sacramento, City of Elk Grove, City of Galt, the City of Rancho Cordova, the Sacramento County Regional Sanitation District and the Capital Southeast Connector JPA. These Permit Applicants will guide efforts to complete the SSHCP and will ultimately be responsible for initial implementation of the Plan.