TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A plan to conserve habitat for many rare or endangered species in southern Arizona is about to be submitted to a federal agency for review.

The fifth draft of the plan is aimed at turning much of the broader Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan into reality. If Pima County's Board of Supervisors approves this draft, it will go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a formal review.

In 1998, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry first proposed a plan to start saving Sonoran Desert land around Tucson through a massive blueprint to buy mountain parkland and ranch land and new, tougher land-use restrictions.

The conservation plan is supposed to remove many legal obstacles to development of land not formally set aside and preserved as open space.

The latest details of the plan include ensuring the long-term survival of animals and plants native to Pima County by maintaining habitats and ecosystems they need to survive.

The plan covers an area of about 608,000 acres of mainly private, unincorporated lands within Pima County in the Tucson metro area, and calls for conservation of about 243,000 acres through purchase or leasing over the next 30 years.

Species in the area include the Huachuca water umbel, the lesser long-nosed bat, the Southwestern willow flycatcher, the Gila chub and the Mexican garter snake.

All are rare in Pima County and many are listed by the federal government as endangered or threatened. Habitats to be monitored include Sonoran Desert uplands, semi-desert and sacaton grasslands, riparian areas, seeps, springs and talus slopes.

Since voters approved a 2004 open space bond issue, the county has spent $118.5 million to buy and lease lands for the plan.

Public meetings will be held about the plan later this year.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

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