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Briefing Paper Examines ‘No Surprises’ Rule on Habitat Conservation

The latest briefing paper in NAHB’s One Minute Report series brings association members up to date on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's “No Surprises” rule, which has enabled private landowners to use their property and at the same time contribute to efforts to conserve the habitat of threatened and endangered species.

Under the Endangered Species Act, landowners are required to create a Habitat Conservation Plan before they can obtain an incidental take permit. Preparing these plans can represent a significant undertaking in terms of time and expense.

The No Surprises rule, which became a regulation of the Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service in 1998, protects property owners who agree to a plan to conserve habitat from having to commit additional land or financial resources if unforeseen circumstances arise.

The NAHB briefing paper discusses litigation over the rule from environmental groups and what might happen next after a court decision last fall that sent the rule back to the Services for further consideration.

“Landowners will continue to argue that the full burden of species recovery should not be thrust upon them simply because a listed species resides on their particular parcel, and that all efforts should be made to ease their contribution to what is effectively a public good through regulatory incentives like the No Surprises rule,” the NAHB report says.

NAHB members who want to receive the One Minute Report, a series of papers covering new and emerging building industry issues, can subscribe online by clicking here, or send an e-mail to Marie Zenner or call her at 800-368-5242 x8279.

To read the entire report, which also provides references on the No Surprises issue, NAHB members can click here.

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