Seiber v. United States

53 Fed. Cl. 570, 55 ERC (BNA) 1390, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 238, 2002 WL 31002601
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedSeptember 4, 2002
DocketNo. 01-432L
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 53 Fed. Cl. 570 (Seiber v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seiber v. United States, 53 Fed. Cl. 570, 55 ERC (BNA) 1390, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 238, 2002 WL 31002601 (uscfc 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

MARGOLIS, Senior Judge.

This takings action is before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss or, alternatively, for summary judgment, and on plaintiffs’ cross-motion for partial summary judgment [572]*572on the issue of liability. After carefully considering the parties’ motions and after a hearing in court, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted as to all Counts. Plaintiffs’ cross-motion for partial summary judgment is denied.

FACTS

Plaintiffs, Marsha and Alvin Seiber, own approximately 200 acres of land in Linn County, Oregon, on which they both live and conduct their logging business. Of this property, 185 to 190 acres are commercial timberlands. Forty acres of those commercial timberlands were designated by Oregon as northern spotted owl nesting habitat from 1994 to June 2002 and were thus protected from harvesting. Because the 40 acres were designated northern spotted owl nesting habitat by Oregon, the United States government, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), denied plaintiffs’ application for a permit to cut timber on the property. As a result, plaintiffs claim that those 40 acres of timber were temporarily taken by the government, requiring just compensation pursuant to takings theories under Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419, 102 S.Ct. 3164, 73 L.Ed.2d 868 (1982); Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 112 S.Ct. 2886, 120 L.Ed.2d 798 (1992); Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U.S. 255, 100 S.Ct. 2138, 65 L.Ed.2d 106 (1980); and, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978).

In June 1990, FWS designated the northern spotted owl a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Threatened Status for the Northern Spotted Owl, 55 Fed.Reg. 26, 114 (June 26, 1990). Pursuant to this designation, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) implemented state regulations aimed at protecting northern spotted owl nesting sites. The ODF regulations prohibited logging within a 70-acre area of a northern spotted owl nesting site. In 1994, Oregon designated a 70-acre area, 40 acres of which were on plaintiffs’ property, as northern spotted owl nesting habitat. The remaining 30 acres are on plaintiffs’ neighbors’ property.

In February 1998, plaintiffs submitted a logging application to ODF seeking approval to harvest the 40-acre protected area. Under Oregon law, parties conducting commercial harvests in Oregon must file a notification with ODF announcing their intent to harvest the timber. See generally, ORS § 527.670 (1994). ODF refused to approve plaintiffs’ harvesting plan, and on appeal the Oregon Board of Forestry affirmed the denial. The Oregon regulation protecting northern spotted owl nesting sites, however, contains an exception that permits logging of the protected sites, i.e., the landowner acquires an incidental take permit for northern spotted owls from FWS.1 The Endangered Species Act provides a detailed process by which a person may obtain a permit to engage in the incidental take of a protected species.2 16 U.S.C. § 1539(a). Thus, plaintiffs applied to FWS for an incidental take permit.

On November 26, 1999, plaintiffs submitted to FWS an incidental take permit application along with a habitat conservation plan, as required by the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1539(a)(2)(A).3 The application re[573]*573quested authorization to take the northern spotted owl by logging 40 acres of a 70-acre area designated by Oregon as a spotted owl core area, ie., protected habitat. Plaintiffs expected that their habitat conservation plan would be considered a low-effect habitat conservation plan and as such processed within three months. FWS, however, determined that the habitat conservation plan was not low effect and thus required an Environmental Assessment, which results in a longer processing period.

In a February 7, 2000 letter, the Department of the Interior’s Regional Solicitor informed plaintiffs that their incidental take permit application lacked much of the “biological analysis and information routinely provided by other applicants.” Defs App. at 125. The Solicitor stated that FWS was willing to work with plaintiffs to discuss incidental take permit application modifications that would allow for expedited processing. In a February 9, 2000 response to the Regional Solicitor, plaintiffs’ attorney stated that plaintiffs had no desire to discuss modifications to their incidental take permit application.

FWS denied plaintiffs’ application in a July 6, 2000 letter. The letter stated that the Oregon Forest Practices Act regulations, upon which the habitat conservation plan solely relied, are not a sound biological rationale for mitigating and minimizing spotted owl take. With respect to the first mitigation measure in plaintiffs’ habitat conservation plan, FWS stated that harvesting outside of the nesting season may minimize harm to currently nesting owls, but did not minimize or mitigate the incidental take resulting from removal of owl nesting habitat. In addition, FWS stated that plaintiffs’ proposed alternative did not provide replacement habitat, nor did it provide dispersal habitat, which would allow owls to migrate through the area in the process of locating mates and nesting sites. FWS ultimately determined that

[t]he net result is that there is essentially no mitigation being provided for the incidental take of spotted owls associated with the harvest of suitable habitat within close proximity to a nesting location. The incidental take would be either in the form of abandonment of the nest site, thus precluding future breeding, or loss of foraging and roosting opportunities which would de- ' crease the likelihood for spotted owls to survive and successfully reproduce in the area.

Id. at 135, 98 S.Ct. 2646.

FWS stated that although the application was denied there were other approvable alternatives available. It provided examples of two habitat conservation plans from similarly situated landowners that resulted in issuance of incidental take permits and suggested alternatives under which FWS believed plaintiffs would be issued an incidental take permit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 Fed. Cl. 570, 55 ERC (BNA) 1390, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 238, 2002 WL 31002601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seiber-v-united-states-uscfc-2002.