Representative Engagements:

Over the past 30 years, representative engagements include:

• Counsel for the affected landowners (Amfac and Foremost McKesson, among others) and developers in conceiving and advocating the establishment in 1983 of the process and concepts underlying the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, which provided the template for “habitat conservation plans” (“HCPs”) nation-wide, expressly acknowledged by Congress as the model for the amendments to the federal Endangered Species Act that institutionalized this concept. The approach has become the centerpiece of the federal program for conserving the nation’s bio-diversity, with over 500 HCPs completed and an equal number underway, from the Florida Keys to the forests of the Northwest and urbanized Southern California. Regional-scale Natural Community Conservation Plans (“NCCPs”) are now being completed for virtually all of urbanizing Southern California and many other areas of the Nation are extensions of this work.
   
• Counsel for landowners, developers and public agencies with respect to other wildlife habitat conservation plans: North Key Largo Florida; the State of Colorado (the Prebles Jumping Mouse), Riverside County Building Industry Association (the Stephens’ Kangaroo Rat); UNOCAL (California Gnatcatcher) and The Fieldstone Company (the first habitat conservation plan for the California Gnatcatcher and the first completed component of the Coastal Sage Scrub NCCP); and, various public water, flood control and waste water agencies involved in the Santa Ana River watershed (the preparation of a habitat management plan in connection with their operations). In the context of this work, Marsh has assisted in the development of critical elements of national policy underlying such HCPs.
   
• Neutral Attorney/Facilitator for various efforts including, e.g.:
  The Southern California National Freight Gateway, a collaboration among key local, State, and federal agencies to assist the affected agencies and interests to develop a Framework Strategy for addressing the movement of freight (expected to reach 43 million containers per year by 2030) from the San Pedro Ports through the region;
  
  The Santa Ana River Watershed Group, a collaborative effort of private and public sector interests and local, state and federal agencies to address concerns and opportunities regarding water supply, storage and quality; flood control; impacts of dairy operations (350,000 dairy cows; two million tons of manure on the ground); economic development; and, wildlife conservation within the Santa Ana River watershed of Southern California (the fastest growing watershed in the nation). Related engagements have included assistance with respect to aspects of a Conservation Strategy for Prado Basin (for the Cities of Chino and Ontario), a Watershed Management Strategy for Upper San Timoteo Creek (for the San Timoteo Watershed Management Authority), a proposed collaborative strategy for the Orange County Coastal Plain (for the County of Orange and the Orange County Sanitation District)
  
  Participation in the facilitation team engaged by the State of Colorado to assist in a collaborative effort to develop a wildlife conservation approach for an endangered species inhabiting riparian areas of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from Colorado Springs into Wyoming;
  
  The National Dialogue on a Funding Framework for Wildlife Conservation in Urbanizing Areas, a nation-wide dialogue regarding the funding of wildlife conservation in urbanizing areas.
  
  Participation as counsel to the Growth Management Institute (“GMI”) project, under a cooperative agreement with EPA, in support of Eastward Ho!, an effort of the State of Florida and EPA, as well as others, to cluster development on the eastern shore of Florida and away from the Everglades.
   
• Special counsel to the County of Orange regarding the negotiation in 1987 of the 20 major development agreements covering virtually all of urbanizing south Orange County: close to 100,000 units of development (with a projected population in excess of 240,000), $300 million of roads and related infrastructure, and related resource management plans.
   
• Representation regarding numerous matters relating to land use, transportation, endangered species, air quality, water, wetlands, historic preservation, coastal and ocean-related projects and the reconciliation of land/resource development with concerns for wildlife, wetlands and the environment: The Fieldstone Company, J. M. Peters, Amfac/Foremost McKesson joint venture, Bank of America; Building Industry of Southern California (air quality), The William Lyon Company, Home Federal Bank (Home Capital Corporation), Haseko Homes, Signal Companies, UNOCAL, Orange County Sanitation District, Orange County Water District, Growth Management Institute, State of Colorado, Colorado Springs Utilities, County of Orange, IDS Mortgage Company, Union America -- the former holding company of Union Bank, and, the UMET Trust, and The Bighorn Institute; coastal and tidelands matters: City of Eureka, Huntington Harbour Corporation, Coronado Cays Company, Orange County Sanitation District (major outfall permit, coastal plain strategy); water: Municipal Water District of Orange County, the Orange County Water District, the Santa Ana Water Project Authority, the Chino Basin Watermaster, the San Timoteo Watershed Management Authority, the Yucaipa Valley Water District; historic preservation: City of Los Angeles (Hollywood revitalization), and Sam Maloof (Woodworker); and, foreign land and resource development: mining and coastal land development in Mexico and International Geomarine Corporation (offshore mining, e.g., in the Red Sea).
   
• Legal advisor and member of various consultant teams, in preparing reports and providing advice to clients on projects and topics including, for example; the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding environmental regulations impeding urban development; the federal Public Land Law Review Commission regarding the management of the outer continental shelf lands (for its report on federally owned lands); the City of Los Angeles on the revitalization of the Hollywood and Crenshaw areas of the City; the environmental impact statement for the sea-leg of the Alaska-Long Beach oil transfer plan; and the RAND Corporation in connection with a study and report regarding aspects of the Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
   
• Dialogue moderator: For example, tanker safety offshore Southern California (1974-1975); GMI/ELI Federal Permitting Working Group (1984-1996); Development Agreements (1986); Starr Ranch/Southern California Wildlife Discussions (1986-1992); National funding for wildlife conservation (1994-1996); Transnational Wildlife Issues (Mexico, 1993); and, improvements to the National Environmental Policy Act (hosted by the University of California at Irvine and co-moderated by current and past counsels for the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, May, 2005)