How many HCPs have been developed and what size areas do they cover?
Both the number of HCPs and the size and complexity of the areas they cover have increased. As of 2005, more than 430 HCPs have been approved, with many more in the planning stage. Most of the earlier HCPs approved were for planning areas of less than 1,000 acres; now 10 exceed 500,000 acres, with several larger than 1,000,000 acres. In some cases, there are more than one incidental take permit associated with a HCP. HCPs are evolving from a process adopted primarily to address single projects to broad-based, landscape-level planning, utilized to achieve long-term biological and regulatory goals.
