Opinion ID: 152573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of Primary Constituent Elements (PCEs) in

Text: Critical Habitat Designation [1] Home Builders’s first challenge to the designation attacks FWS’s classification, as critical habitat, of areas in 11240 HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION v. USFWS which the physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species do not occur simultaneously. Those “physical or biological features” are part of the definition of occupied critical habitat: “the specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species . . . on which are found those physical or biological features (I) essential to the conservation of the species and (II) which may require special management considerations or protection.” ESA § 3(5)(A)(i), 16 U.S.C. § 1532(5)(A)(i). FWS refers to such “physical or biological features” as “primary constituent elements” or “PCEs.” See 50 C.F.R. § 424.12(b). In the August 2005 Rule, FWS stated that “[t]he PCEs described for each species do not have to occur simultaneously within a unit for the unit to constitute critical habitat for any of the 15 vernal pool species.” 70 Fed. Reg. at 46,934. Without challenging any specific designations, Home Builders argues generally that if an area that does not contain all PCEs is designated as an occupied critical habitat, then the PCEs not present cannot be essential to the conservation of the species, so should not be considered PCEs at all. On the other hand, Home Builders continues, if the absent elements are truly PCEs, then their absence means that the area cannot be essential to the conservation of the species. Logic and the unique characteristics of vernal pool complexes defeat this argument. [2] In vernal pool complexes, the elements necessary to species survival are present in distinct areas. For example, each of the crustacean species has four PCEs: certain topographic features that feed the pools, certain depressional features where the pools form, sources of food, and structures within the pool that provide shelter. 70 Fed. Reg at 46,934-37. Quite obviously, the topographical features that feed the pools and the depressional features where the pools form will be found in different areas. In general, there is simply no reason that two elements essential for the conservation of a species need be present in the same area. As FWS points out, one critHOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION v. USFWS 11241 ical habitat for a bird species might contain nesting grounds while another critical habitat contains feeding sites. As explained, such a separation is especially appropriate for species that live in vernal pool complexes. [3] Home Builders also makes the perverse contention that by designating as critical habitat areas with fewer than all PCEs, FWS has impermissibly limited its designation to protecting only those elements essential to the protected species’ survival as opposed to their recovery. This part of the argument relies on this court’s holding that “the purpose of establishing ‘critical habitat’ is for the government to carve out territory that is not only necessary for the species’ survival but also essential for the species’ recovery.” Gifford Pinchot, 378 F.3d at 1070. Thus, Gifford Pinchot requires FWS to be more generous in defining area as part of the critical habitat designation. Home Builders’s attempt to use the case in support of its argument that FWS should have included less area within the critical habitat designation makes no sense. Gifford Pinchot says nothing about how many PCEs must be included in an area for it to be classified as critical habitat. Accordingly, we find no legal support for Home Builders’s argument.5 II. Identification of the Point at Which the Fifteen Species Will Be Conserved [4] 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). 5 Home Builders does not argue, and the record does not suggest, that FWS improperly designated critical habitat based on a goal of survival rather than what would be necessary to achieve conservation and recovery of the listed species. 11242 HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION v. USFWS 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. [5] 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 HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION v. USFWS 11243 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. [6] 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 (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. III. Overlap Between Occupied and Unoccupied Habitat Designations [7] Next, Home Builders contends that FWS erred by conflating the standards for occupied and unoccupied habitat. Although FWS described the protected habitat as being composed of “occupied” subunits, 70 Fed. Reg. at 46,945, it acknowledged that some areas that constitute unoccupied critical habitat will be present within some subunits, id. at 46,929, 46,934. Home Builders fails to explain how FWS’s procedure here runs afoul of the statutory scheme. Under ESA § 3(5)(A), an area constitutes “critical habitat” if it meets the 11244 HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION v. USFWS requirements for occupied habitat or for unoccupied habitat. 16 U.S.C. § 1532(5)(A). There is no requirement that every area be classified as one or the other, and, in the case of vernal pool complexes, which may change dramatically from year to year, such a classification may be impossible. 70 Fed. Reg. at 46,929, 46,934. [8] In any event, FWS ultimately concluded that “the areas designated by this final rule, including currently occupied and unoccupied areas, are essential for the conservation of these species.” Id. at 46,930. Essential for conservation is the standard for unoccupied habitat, ESA § 3(5)(A)(ii), 16 U.S.C. § 1532(5)(A)(ii), and is a more demanding standard than that of occupied critical habitat. Arizona Cattle Growers’ Ass’n v. Salazar, 606 F.3d 1160, 1163 (9th Cir. 2010). Thus, basing the designation on meeting the more demanding standard poses no problem. Courts routinely apply similar reasoning in cases where a standard is unclear yet the result is the same under even the highest standard. E.g., Brown v. S. Cal. IBEWNECA Trust Funds, 588 F.3d 1000, 1003 (9th Cir. 2009) (“Because we agree with the district court that the result would be the same under either standard of review, we likewise need not decide the question.”).