The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Montana (MT) Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) developed a multispecies habitat conservation plan (HCP) to address the potential take of federally listed species on forested state trust lands (USFWS & DNRC, 2010). The HCP was prepared in order to comply with Section 10 of the United States (U.S.) Endangered Species Act (ESA), which allows for the incidental take of a threatened or endangered species by private or non-federal government agencies during lawful activities (USFWS, 1996). The HCP was developed to protect five aquatic and terrestrial species; the bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), the westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri), the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), and the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) (USFWS & DNRC, …show more content…
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service and the USFWS both endorse multispecies HCPs, claiming they offer advantages to both development and conservation (Rahn, 2006). Protecting multiple species and communities, each with their own conservation goals and objectives, is becoming more common (Hierl, et al., 2008). However, multispecies plans to individual species may be overestimated (Rahn, 2006). Once the key species have been identified, the next step is to determine the best course of action to conserve those species (Vogel & Hicks, 2012). The USFWS & DNRC, identified the keys species and addressed specific conservation goals and objectives for each, but did not determine what species takes priority. There are tradeoffs in multiple species HCPs that are necessary (Vogel & Hicks (2012). With limited resources, it is impossible to monitor all species the same; criteria must be applied to prioritize monitoring and management (Hierl, et al.,