Endangered Species Law & Policy

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is a long-term conservation strategy designed to improve the status of species and natural communities covered by the plan and provide the basis for the issuance of endangered species permits for the operation of the state and federal water projects in California.  For a number of years, federal and state agencies, numerous public water agencies, and non-governmental organizations have worked to develop the BDCP.  On November 18, an incomplete draft of the BDCP was released to the public amid controversy as reported by numerous news outlets including the New York Times and the Sacramento Bee.  Stakeholders with diverse interests expressed varying degrees of dissatisfaction with the BDCP, which is being developed at the same time that the current restrictions on the state and federal water projects are being challenged in numerous lawsuits filed in federal and state courts.