Endangered species conservation on private land: Assessing the effectiveness of habitat conservation plans

Habitat conservation plans (HCPs) have become a key instrument for implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on private land. However, there is no systematic analysis of their effectiveness in promoting endangered species recovery. This paper is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of HCPs on species recovery status. We find evidence that HCPs have a significant positive impact on species recovery. Our results also suggest that the recovery benefits are larger when species have relatively larger plans. However, we fail to find strong evidence that multi-species plans covering more species are more effective than plans which include fewer species.