Opinion ID: 2533469
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Identification of the Point at Which the Fifteen Species Will Be Conserved

Text: Home Builders next argues that FWS's determination of the PCEs is invalid because FWS failed to determine when the protected species will be conserved. ESA § 3(3) defines conservation as the use of all methods and procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered species or threatened species to the point at which the measures provided pursuant to this chapter are no longer necessary. 16 U.S.C. § 1532(3). If FWS does not know when the species in question will be brought to this point, Home Builders argues, it cannot know what physical or biological features are required to bring the species there. A district court adopted this argument in another case brought by Home Builders. Home Builders Ass'n of N. Cal. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., 268 F.Supp.2d 1197, 1214 (E.D.Cal.2003). We disagree with that court's reasoning because it lacks legal support and is undermined by ESA's text. First, as the district court held in this case, there is no reason why FWS cannot determine what elements are necessary for conservation without determining exactly when conservation will be complete. See also Arizona Cattle Growers' Ass'n v. Kempthorne, 534 F.Supp.2d 1013, 1025-26 (D.Ariz.2008), aff'd on other grounds, 606 F.3d 1160 (9th Cir.2010). As FWS explains, all that ESA § 3(5)(A) requires before the designation of occupied critical habitat is a determination of what physical or biological features are essential to the conservation of the species. 16 U.S.C. § 1532(5)(A). Home Builders does not explain why it is impossible to determine the elements essential to a goal without determining when the goal will be achieved. A seller of sporting goods should be able to identify which rod and reel are essential to catching a largemouth bass, but is not expected to predict when the customer will catch one. Home Builders attempts to rely on ESA's text as support for adding this requirement, but the statute actually runs contrary to its argument. ESA does require a determination of criteria for measuring when a species will be conserved, but that requirement applies to the preparation of a recovery plan. ESA § 4(f)(1)(B)(ii), 16 U.S.C. § 1533(f)(1)(B)(ii). Recognizing that this case does not involve a challenge to a recovery plan, Home Builders urges us to import the requirement to the designation of critical habitat, a completely different part of ESA. Home Builders undermines its argument for importation by advocating it selectively: Home Builders urges that another recovery plan requirementproviding a description of the management actions necessary to achieve conservation and survivalshould not be imposed on critical habitat designations. ESA § 4(f)(1)(B)(i), 16 U.S.C. § 1533(f)(1)(B)(i). Home Builders's reasoning is that the second requirement presumably would in most instances take considerable time and effort. Home Builders's argument for selective importation is an argument for Congress, not for the courts. Apart from its own preference, Homes Builders has not provided any valid reason to impose requirements from one part of the statute onto another. Indeed, inclusion of the requirement for recovery plans shows that if Congress had intended such a requirement to apply to critical habitat designations, it would have said so. See Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 23, 104 S.Ct. 296, 78 L.Ed.2d 17 (1983) (Where Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion.) (citation and alteration omitted). Finally, we note that Congress's decision to apply the extra requirement to recovery plans but not to critical habitat designations is logical because there is no deadline for creating a recovery plan, but there is a one-year deadline for designating critical habitat.