Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-71_omjp.pdf
Page Number: 8.0

Cite as:  586 U. S. ____ (2018) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

Because  the  existing  dusky  gopher  frog  populations  were 
all  located  in  two  adjacent  counties  on  the  Gulf  Coast  of
Mississippi,  local  events  such  as  extreme  weather  or  an 
outbreak  of  an  infectious  disease  could  jeopardize  the 
entire species.  Designation of Critical Habitat for Missis-
sippi Gopher Frog, 75 Fed. Reg. 31394 (2010) (proposed 50 
CFR Part 17). 

To  protect  against  that  risk,  the  Service  proposed  to 
designate  as  unoccupied  critical  habitat  a  1,544-acre  site 
in  St.  Tammany  Parish,  Louisiana.    The  site,  dubbed 
“Unit 1” by the Service, had been home to the last known 
population  of  dusky  gopher  frogs  outside  of  Mississippi. 
The  frog  had  not  been  seen  in  Unit  1  since  1965,  and  a
closed-canopy timber plantation occupied much of the site.
But  the  Service  found  that  the  site  retained  five  ephem-
eral ponds “of remarkable quality,” and determined that an
open-canopy  forest  could  be  restored  on  the  surrounding 
uplands  “with  reasonable  effort.”    Although  the  uplands 
in  Unit  1  lacked  the  open-canopy  forests  (and,  of  course,
the  frogs)  necessary  for  designation  as  occupied  critical 
habitat, the Service concluded that the site met the statu-
tory  definition  of  unoccupied  critical  habitat  because  its 
rare,  high-quality  breeding  ponds  and  its  distance  from
existing frog populations made it essential for the conser-
  Designation,  at  35118,  35124, 
vation  of  the  species.
35133, 35135. 

After  issuing  its  proposal,  the  Service  commissioned  a 
report  on  the  probable  economic  impact  of  designating 
each  area,  including  Unit  1,  as  critical  habitat  for  the
dusky  gopher  frog.    See  16  U. S. C.  §1533(b)(2);  App.  63.
Petitioner  Weyerhaeuser  Company,  a  timber  company,
owns part of Unit 1 and leases the remainder from a group 
of  family  landowners.  Brief  for  Petitioner  16.  While  the 
critical-habitat  designation  has  no  direct  effect  on  the 
timber  operations,  St.  Tammany  Parish  is  a  fast-growing 
part of the New Orleans metropolitan area, and the land-