House Bill Addresses ESA Habitat Designation Problems
Introduced last week by Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), the “Critical Habitat Enhancement Act of 2005,” H.R. 1299, is designed to ensure the protection of endangered species while accommodating the needs of the communities and states where they are found. The bipartisan bill has received a favorable reception from the nation’s home builders. “We believe that this legislation offers a real solution to the current crisis over critical habitat,” said NAHB President David Wilson. “The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has fallen far short of its goals, recovering only 1% of the country’s 1,300 protected species. It needs to be updated in order to protect, conserve and recover America’s species, while balancing the needs of the communities in which we live and work.” In addition to Cardoza, Wilson added that NAHB looks forward to working with other members of the House Resources Committee to move this legislation forward, including its chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), a long-time proponent of ESA reform. Under current law, when a species is listed under the ESA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Marine Fisheries Service is required to designate the critical habitat that is essential for its conservation. The FWS has conceded that under current rules it has had to expend significant resources on this effort with little or no conservation benefits for the listed species. At the same time, landowners are required to comply with regulations that often ban or delay projects or impose severe mitigation constraints. Several provisions in the bill are designed to correct these shortcomings. The legislation would: - Set an independent timeline giving the Secretary of the Interior ample opportunity to compile sound scientific or commercial data before implementing a critical habitat designation. This would give states and private property owners a strong incentive to adopt voluntary cooperative partnerships to protect listed species and exclude land from the critical habitat designation.
- Exempt from critical habitat designations land that is already included in a habitat conservation plan or other federal, state or local species management program. This would promote voluntary species protection and recovery efforts by private landowners.
- Require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the direct, indirect and cumulative economic impacts on landowners when considering critical habitat designations.
- Ensure that landowners have precise information about specific areas that warrant heightened regulation and protection under a critical habitat designation.
“Rep. Cardoza’s bipartisan reform bill would improve the ESA and protect our nation’s wildlife in a way that is cost-effective. It would help ensure that common-sense conservation policies and programs — and not litigation — will drive the critical habitat designation process,” said Wilson. “We encourage the Senate to introduce and pass similar legislation.”
To read this legislation, click here and enter H.R. 1299 in the box at the upper left. | 
