LICENSE TO KILL, PART ONE

Flaws in habitat conservation plans threaten scores of species

The federal government is handing out licenses to kill endangered species. Hundreds of exemptions to the Endangered Species Act have been issued nationwide since the mid-1990s, covering some of America's most sensitive lands. The deals being cut are perfectly legal. Many last for decades. And they are helping push creatures to the brink of extinction, conservation biologists and other critics say. Agencies entrusted to protect animals have allowed driving on Florida beaches where threatened sea turtles nest, the electrocution of rare birds on security fences at California prisons and the killing of protected salmon in one of southwest Washington's last undammed rivers. These "habitat conservation plans" authorize developers, miners, loggers and others to "take" -- that is, harm, injure or kill -- creatures on the brink of extinction. Theoretically, the permit holder must do something good for the species to compensate for the bad. Washington state is about to become the epicenter of this little-noticed trend. By the end of the year, about 11 million acres -- about one-quarter of the state -- are expected to be covered by habitat plans that focus largely on logging of private forests. Other deals in the works could expand the total to more than 15 million acres -- tops in the country....

Other articles in part one of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer series:

Some see politics in habitat planning

Pioneer conservation plan falls short

Toad's fate in landowners' hands

Lands lose guardian when trust goes bust

State profits from logging trees they previously fought to preserve

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