The Coachella Valley's historic plan to protect 27 endangered and protected animals and plants goes into effect today.

The permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife arrived on Wednesday, the final step in a 12-year process to create the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

“We're not planning anymore, we're putting it into effect,” said Katie Barrows, director of environmental resources for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments that has overseen that plan.

“This step makes it possible.”

The 75-year, $2.2 billion plan was created to preserve land and habitat that's home to 27 of the desert's endangered and protected species. The previous conservation plan protected only the fringe-toed lizard, which the government designated for Endangered Species Act protection in 1980.

“The plan approved today will ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our region, and will benefit generations to come,” Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said in a statement Wednesday.

“We are all looking forward to finally getting to the important work of infrastructure improvements.”

Starting today:

Valley officials can start buying up land for habitat, in part with $30 million in designated funding from CVAG.

Officials will collect a habitat mitigation fee of $5,730 per acre from new development projects.

Desert Hot Springs can formally move forward with joining the plan. It was the only Coachella Valley city to initially opt out of the habitat plan, with city leaders expressing concerns that it could negatively impact proposed projects such as the Palmwood Golf Club.

City officials have since had a change of heart and have been negotiating for months with valley officials on an amendment.

A formal signing ceremony and celebration is being planned for later this fall to commemorate today's habitat plan implementation.