Opinion ID: 2811975
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Local Conservation Plans and Partnerships

Text: In the late 1990s, two coalitions formed to develop conservation plans for the sucker. In 1998, the first coalition, consisting of the FWS, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, and various local agencies, including several Appellants in this case, agreed to the Santa Ana Sucker Conservation Plan (“SASCP”). Under the SASCP, the FWS allowed permittees to incidentally “take” (i.e., harm or kill) a limited number of suckers, in exchange for various conservation and mitigation measures. In 1999, a second coalition of 22 parties developed the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (“MSHCP”), a regional, multi- jurisdictional plan that encompasses nearly 1.26 million acres and provides participating agencies with a 75 year permit for the incidental taking of 146 protected species, including the sucker, in exchange for implementing conservation measures. Several Appellants, including the City of Riverside and Riverside County Flood Control, are among the permittees covered by the MSHCP. In 2004, the MSHCP was formally approved by the FWS. Under the terms of the Implementation Agreement (“MSHCP-IA”), the FWS stipulated that: [T]o the maximum extent allowable after public review and comment, in the event that a Critical Habitat determination is made for any Covered Species Adequately Conserved, and unless the [Service] finds that the MSHCP is not being implemented, lands within the boundaries of the MSHCP will not be designated as Critical Habitat. BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL 11 Although the MSHCP continues to be implemented, the FWS, in the 2010 Final Rule, designated additional critical habitat within the MSHCP. A crucial issue on this appeal is whether, and to what extent, this stipulation binds the FWS’s designation decisions. C. History of Listing and Critical Habitat Designation
Efforts to list the sucker as an endangered species date back to September 1994, when two conservation groups petitioned the FWS to consider the listing. When the FWS did not respond to the petition within the 90 days mandated by statute, the groups sued to compel a determination. In May 1996, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found that the FWS violated the ESA and ordered the Service to make a preliminary determination as to the sucker’s status. See Cal. Trout v. Babbitt, No. 95cv-3961, Dkt. No. 30 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 7, 1995). In July 1996, the FWS published a preliminary determination that a listing of the sucker could be warranted, but took no further action. 61 Fed. Reg. 36,021 (July 9, 1996). The district court then ordered the FWS to publish a proposed rule regarding listing, as required by the ESA. In March 1997, the FWS determined that while listing the sucker as endangered or threatened was warranted, other listing actions commanded higher priority. 62 Fed. Reg. 15,872 (Apr. 3, 1997). The conservation groups then filed a new lawsuit in response to which the district court set a schedule for the FWS to publish a proposed and final listing determination. 12 BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL In April 2000, the FWS released a Final Listing Rule, listing the sucker as a “threatened” species. The FWS noted that the sucker had been eliminated from approximately 75% of its former native range, due to “habitat destruction, natural and human-induced changes in streamflows, urban development and related land-use practices, and the introduction of nonnative competitors and predators.” 65 Fed. Reg. 19,686, 19,691 (Apr. 12, 2000). The FWS did not, however, designate critical habitat for the sucker in the 2000 Final Listing Rule on the ground that its “knowledge and understanding of the biological needs and environmental limitations of the Santa Ana sucker and the primary constituent elements of its habitat are insufficient to determine critical habitat for the fish.” Id. at 19,696. In such circumstances, the ESA requires the FWS to conduct additional research and issue a final determination of critical habitat no later than two years after the proposed listing rule. 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(6)(C)(ii)(II). The district court supervising the California Trout litigation retained jurisdiction to monitor the FWS’s compliance with the statutory deadline. After the FWS failed to comply, the conservation groups amended their complaint and moved for summary judgment. The district court found the FWS in violation of the ESA and ordered a final critical habitat designation by February 2004. Cal. Trout v. Norton, No. 97-cv-3779, 2003 WL 23413688, at  (N.D. Cal. Feb. 26, 2003).
In February 2004, the FWS concurrently issued identical proposed and final critical habitat designations. The 2004 Final Rule designated 21,129 acres of critical habitat in three BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL 13 areas: the Santa Ana River (indicated as Unit 1, further divided into subunits 1A and 1B), the San Gabriel River (Unit 2), and the Big Tujunga Creek (Unit 3). The 2004 Final Rule found that the “primary constituent elements” (“PCEs”) for the sucker are “a functioning hydrological system that experiences peaks and ebbs in the water volume and maintains a sand, gravel, and cobble substrate in a mosaic of sandy stream margins, deep water pools, riffles [and] runs; sufficient water volume and quality; and complex, native floral and faunal associations.” 69 Fed. Reg. 8,839, 8,843 (Feb. 26, 2004). Although the FWS found that Units 1A and 1B “are not known to be occupied, they are essential for the conservation of the Santa Ana sucker because they provide and transport sediment necessary to maintain the preferred substrates utilized by this fish . . . , convey stream flows and flood waters necessary to maintain habitat conditions for the Santa Ana sucker; and support riparian habitats that protect water quality in the downstream portions of the Santa Ana River occupied by the sucker.” Id. at 8,844–45 (citations omitted). Notwithstanding these findings, the FWS exercised its authority under Section 4(b)(2) of the ESA to exclude “essential habitat” that included areas encompassed by the MSHCP and the SASCP. The FWS concluded that “the benefits of excluding essential habitat within the boundaries of” these agreements, such as fostering continuing cooperative spirit with local agencies, educational value, and likely changes in conservation, “outweigh the benefits of including these areas as critical habitat,” and that this exclusion “will not result in the extinction of the sucker.” Id. at 8,846–48. 14 BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL
Because the 2004 Final Rule had been promulgated without an opportunity for public review and comment in order to comply with the district court’s order, the FWS accepted review and comment on the simultaneously released 2004 Proposed Rule, which was ultimately promulgated as a new 2005 Final Rule. The 2005 Final Rule revised the PCEs for the sucker and reduced the designated critical habitat to 8,305 acres. Specifically, all portions of the habitat in the Santa Ana River and its tributaries (Unit 1) were removed from designation because they were no longer considered “essential.” However, this change rendered the 2005 Final Rule internally inconsistent, because the rationale for designating certain unoccupied portions of other river systems as essential was the same as the rationale used to reject designation for the units along the Santa Ana River. For example, while unoccupied areas in Unit 3 (the Big Tujunga Creek) were designated as essential because they transported sediment downstream to occupied areas, unoccupied areas in Unit 1A were now deemed “not essential,” even though they also transported sediment to downstream occupied areas. Additionally, while certain sections of the 2005 Final Rule state that Units 1A and 1B are not essential, the FWS did not remove other language in the Final Rule that refers to habitat within these units as essential. See, e.g., 70 Fed. Reg. 426, 443 (Jan. 4, 2005) (“[W]e analyzed the impacts of the MSHCP . . . on the Santa Ana sucker and its essential habitat within the plan boundaries.”). Various conservation groups pressed the FWS on these inconsistencies, raising questions about the integrity of the scientific information used and whether the decision was consistent with appropriate legal standards. In response, the BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL 15 FWS announced in July 2007 that it would review the 2005 Final Rule. In November 2007, the conservation groups again sued the FWS, alleging that the 2005 Final Rule violated the ESA and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and that the rule making resulted from improper political influence not grounded in reliable science. The parties settled in 2009. The settlement agreement approved by the district court required the FWS to “reconsider its critical habitat designation for the Santa Ana sucker,” and to submit a proposed rule by December 2009, with a final rule due by December 2010. Cal. Trout v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv., No. 08-cv-4811, Dkt. No. 41 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 21, 2009).
The FWS released a new proposed rule in December 2009, with a slight revision in July 2010, designating 9,605 acres of habitat from the three river systems, including 1,900 acres of unoccupied habitat from the Santa Ana River that was previously found not essential in the 2005 Rule (identified as new subunit 1A). 74 Fed. Reg. 65,056 (proposed Dec. 9, 2009), revised by 75 Fed. Reg. 38,441 (proposed July 2, 2010). The FWS noted that it was considering exercising its discretion to exclude 5,472 acres of designated habitat, consisting of areas within the SASCP and MSHCP (identified as new subunits 1B and 1C). In connection with the Proposed Rule, the FWS held two open 60-day comment periods, hosted two public hearings in July 2010, and contacted “appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies; scientific organizations; and other interested parties and invited them to comment on the proposed rule and D[raft] E[conomic] A[nalysis] during these comment periods.” 75 Fed. Reg. 77,961, 77,989 (Dec. 14, 2010). The 16 BEAR VALLEY MUT. WATER CO. V. JEWELL FWS also subjected its rule to peer review, responded to several Congressional inquiries, and met with various stakeholders, including Appellants’ representatives. See id. at 77,989–94. Various agencies participating in the SASCP and MSHCP, including Appellants, commented extensively on the 2009 Proposed Rule, supporting an exclusion and asking the FWS to adhere to its commitment in the MSHCPIA to exclude MSHCP land. In December 2010, the FWS issued its Final Rule. The 2010 Final Rule designated 9,331 acres of critical habitat across the three river systems. The 2010 Final Rule designated habitat closely along the lines of the 2009 Proposed Rules, except that it removed approximately 400 acres from subunit 1A. The 2010 Final Rule designated approximately 1,500 acres of unoccupied habitat in subunit 1A on the ground that these areas are “essential to the conservation of the species” because they function as pathways to transport storm and stream waters and sediments “necessary to maintain” preferred substrates to occupied portions of the Santa Ana River further downstream. 75 Fed. Reg. at 77,972, 77,978. The FWS also decided not to exclude the areas in subunits 1B and 1C, which included 3,048 acres of land covered by the MSHCP. The FWS found that the benefits of continued exclusion did not outweigh the benefits of inclusion, and declined to exercise its discretion to exclude those areas because of the sucker’s conservation status.