The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has issued a letter confirming the transition of endangered species review for three species on Big Pine Key and No Name Keys from the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and Incidental Take Permit (ITP) to the county’s Permit Referral Process under the 2010 Biological Opinion (BO) associated with FEMA’s administration of the National Flood Insurance Program. The letter is available at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/environmentalresources.

The ITP allows limited impacts to the Key Deer, Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit, and Eastern Indigo Snake endangered species/habitat, with associated mitigation, and will expire on June 30, 2026. The associated HCP expired in 2023.

Staff has been working with the USFWS and FEMA to determine how the permit review process will change on July 1, and how impacts to these three species will be reviewed and mitigated to maintain compliance with the Endangered Species Act and continue protecting the species.

For the three species, development permits outside of Big Pine and No Name Keys are reviewed through what is commonly referred to as the “Permit Referral Process.” This process was developed to implement the BO's requirements for FEMA’s administration of the National Flood Insurance Program. The BO also covers six additional endangered species throughout the rest of Monroe County.

Per the requirements in the BO, the expiration of the HCP/ITP means permits on Big Pine and No Name Keys will now be reviewed through the same Permit Referral Process for the three species in question. 

USFWS has updated the Species Assessment Guides for the three species covered by the HCP/ITP for Big Pine and No Name Keys and has confirmed that key protections developed for the HCP/ITP will remain in effect and will continue to be tracked and reported to FEMA and USFWS in the BO annual reports.

Key Protections Confirmed in the Letter:

• The cumulative cap on species impacts that was established in the HCP/ITP will continue to apply under the BO (total of “1.1 H-impact”).
• The 3:1 H mitigation-to-impact ratio requirement will also remain the same under the BO. 
• There is currently a surplus mitigation credit that will remain available to permittees under the BO. 
• To accommodate additional ROGO units from the State of Florida, Monroe County will increase the maximum number of new residential units from 200 to 236, provided the total impact shall not exceed “H” = 1.1.
• Both the H-impact and the cap of 236 new residential permits will be tracked independently from the “take” associated with projects outside of BPK and NNK and reported as part of the Permit Referral Process annual report.
• Other than the increase in allowed units, the protection measures of the ITP and the associated County Ordinances that were established to implement the HCP/ITP will remain in place to ensure that “take” of covered species is minimized and mitigated. 

At this evening’s community meeting, (Thursday, May 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Big Pine Academy), and again at the June 10 BOCC meeting, staff will be reviewing this letter and the new process set to begin July 1, the current status of impacts and mitigation, and provide a comparison chart showing how the protections of the HCP/ITP will be carried over to the BO review process. All presentation materials and handouts, including the USFWS letter, are available at www.monroecounty-fl.gov/environmentalresources.