Common use of Critical Habitat Clause in Contracts

Critical Habitat. Critical habitat for the marbled murrelet was designated on May 24, 1996 (USFWS, 1996). Critical habitat was only identified in the terrestrial environment and not in the marine environment. Designated lands are in areas identified as essential to the conservation of the species. The USFWS identified 11 critical habitat units in Washington. Approximately 1,631,300 acres (660,180 hectares) of habitat were designated as critical habitat in Washington, with approximately 74 percent of the area on federal lands, primarily in Late Successional Reserves as established in the Forest Plan. The primary constituent elements (the physical and biological habitat features) for designating marbled murrelet critical habitat were identified in the document as individual trees with potential nest platforms and forest lands of at least one half site potential tree height regardless of contiguity within 0.8 km (0.5 mile) of individual trees with potential nesting platform and that are used or potentially used by the marbled murrelet for nesting or roosting. Within the boundaries of designated critical habitat, only those areas that contain one or more primary constituent elements are, by definition, critical habitat (USFWS, 1996). Review of the USFWS on-line critical habitat mapper indicates that the nearest designated critical habitat area is approximately 12.6 miles from the eastern Coverage Area boundary.