Land preservation is an important component of the conservation strategy established in the Habitat Plan. The term land preservation is intended broadly to specify the acquisition of terrestrial and aquatic land cover types. Land will be acquired from willing sellers in fee title or through establishment of conservation easements to create the Habitat Plan Reserve System (see Habitat Plan Figure 5-7, Land Acquisition Strategy). The Reserve System will protect an estimated 46,920 acres for the benefit of covered species, natural communities, biological diversity, and ecosystem function.

The Habitat Agency is responsible for ensuring the acquisition of land for the Reserve System and will establish the Reserve System through acquisition of land in fee title, conservation easement, or purchase of credits at an approved mitigation bank. Lands will only be acquired from willing sellers or donors in fee title or through establishment of conservation easements to create the Habitat Plan Reserve System. Lands must meet one or more of the biological goals and objectives and the land acquisition requirements in the Habitat Plan.
In order to become part of the Reserve System, lands must:

• Be consistent with the conservation strategy
• Be approved by the Habitat Agency and Wildlife Agencies
• Be protected with a conservation easement.

Acquired lands must meet certain criteria, such as meeting the goals and objectives of the Plan and overall success of the Habitat Plan; being consistent with the reserve design and assembly principles; meeting multiple criteria for landscape linkages, land cover types, plant occurrences, modeled species habitat, selected wildlife species occupancy, and other land acquisition criteria.

The Habitat Plan includes a neighboring landowner protection (see Section 10.2.7 Assurances for Private Landowners in the Habitat Plan) provision whereby properties adjacent to reserves will be allowed to continue their activities without being impacted by the adjacent reserve area. This has worked successfully in several HCP/NCCPs.