Page:Land Protection Plan - Wyoming Toad Conservation Area.pdf/16

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 * 6Land Protection Plan—Wyoming Toad Conservation Area, Wyoming
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Please see a discussion of the Refuge System and authorities in section 1 of the EA in this volume (appendix A).

Please see a discussion of Related Actions and Activities in section 1 of the EA in this volume (appendix A).

Following the approval of a project boundary, habitat protection will occur through conservation easements and limited fee-title acquisition. It is the Service’s long-established policy to acquire the minimum interest in land from willing sellers that is necessary to achieve habitat protection goals.

The acquisition authorities for fee-title and easement lands within the WTCA boundary are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 742a–j) and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd-ee), as amended. Land would be acquired primarily through Land and Water Conservation Fund monies generated primarily from oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, motorboat fuel tax revenues, and the sale of surplus Federal property. The Service could also buy land with Federal Duck Stamp revenue from the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act of 1934, other funds that meet fish and wildlife conservation purposes as identified by Congress, or donations from nonprofit organizations.

The basic considerations in determining whether land should be acquired through an easement or fee-title purchase include the biological significance of the area, existing and anticipated threats to wildlife resources, and landowner interest in the project. The buying of fee-title lands or conservation easements would occur with willing sellers only and would be subject to available funding. The social and economic impacts of conservation easements and fee-title acquisition are discussed in the EA (see appendix A, table EA-2).

An easement is a conservation tool that has been extensively employed by the Service and other organizations. Easements are bought from willing sellers and they involve the acquisition of specific property rights, such as the right to subdivide or develop certain types of new infrastructure, while all other rights are kept by the property owner. Easements tend to be a cost-effective means of habitat conservation that is acceptable to landowners, particularly in areas where current agricultural land use practices are consistent with wildlife resource protection.

Fee-title acquisition will be limited to lands that can be bought from willing sellers in areas that would facilitate Wyoming toad recovery and promote the reintroduction of toads onto the land. Fee-title acquisition could triple or quadruple the cost of land conservation and add significant increases to Service management costs compared to conservation easements. Up to 10,000 acres are targeted for potential fee-title acquisition because this is the estimated acreage necessary to help meet the recovery objectives for the Wyoming toad that are outlined in the recovery plan (USFWS 2015). Fee-title lands acquired under the WTCA would be managed in accordance with the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for Mortenson Lake NWR until a compatibility determination can be completed on whether public use and access could potentially be allowed.