Policy in Works to Beat Songbirds’ Return

The last 300 pairs of least Bell’s vireos are wintering in Mexico. But when the songbirds return home next spring, they are expected to be the newest members of the Department of the Interior’s endangered species list, which could throw a major crimp into plans for water projects, roads, bridges, and residential and commercial developments throughout San Diego County.

On Friday, the San Diego Assn. of Governments board of directors took the first step toward establishing a regional policy that would supersede federal guidelines but still save the birds from extinction--as well as save the “critical” projects they threaten.

As a result, a task force was appointed to convince the federal government to delay for a year the naming of the bird as an endangered species and to develop a regional policy.

Richard Huff, Sandag executive director, said the proposed Comprehensive Species Management Plan, to be drafted by the 23-member task force appointed Friday, “is intended to allow necessary capital projects to go forward on or near their original schedules while satisfying the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.”

Environmentalists called Sandag’s proposal a “radical departure in public policy-making” that would seriously impede efforts to save the birds and regulate development.

Sierra Club and Sandag officials said regional regulation of endangered species has been attempted only twice--in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno and in Key Largo, Fla.

Emily Durbin, a spokeswoman for the local Sierra Club, said pro-development forces dominate the task force. She also argued that the policies adopted by San Bruno (for a butterfly) and Key Largo (for a mouse) have been challenged in court. But Rich Alexander, a Sandag planner, said San Bruno officials are “still pleased with the result.” He said the San Diego task force represented the only chance “to bring together these various entities as a group,” and added that, if anything, developers were under-represented.

Although the task force’s first directive is to convince federal officials to delay putting the bird on the protected list until early 1987, Alexander said it would work immediately to “establish a consensus-making approach that needs to be there when the birds come back from their current Mexican vacation.”

The task force includes representatives from the City and County of San Diego; the county water authority; Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties; Oceanside; Santee, and Camp Pendleton.

Also, San Diego State University, the Zoological Society of San Diego, Friends of Santa Margarita, the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the League of Women Voters, the state departments of Fish and Game and Transportation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Construction Industry Federation, San Diego County Surface Mining Operators and Orange County attorney Lindell Marsh. Marsh represents Home Capital Corp., backer of the largest private project proposed for the region--a development on the Sweetwater River. Ernie Cowan, mayor of Escondido, was appointed task force chairman.

Durbin charged that government representatives would form a bloc with pro-development forces against the environmental interests. Sandag board members made no secret of the fact that they feel that current development standards tied to the Endangered Species Act are far too restrictive.

El Cajon Councilwoman Harriett Stockwell was the only board member to vote against forming the task force because she felt that the one-year delay in placing the bird on the protected list was too short.

Oceanside Mayor Larry Bagley, concerned about the future of development and flood control projects in the San Luis Rey River area, said current laws “create a bureaucracy rather than answering true environmental concerns.”

Bill Dotson, a spokesman for Caltrans, said he hoped that the regional policy would “provide something for future projects that is less demanding.” Five Caltrans projects, including the Oceanside bypass on California 76, the San Luis Rey River bridge at Bonsall, the California 52 extension, and Sweetwater River Bridge on California 94, are included in the bird’s habitat.

A large majority of the remaining least Bell’s vireos live in the San Diego area, but the policy would include the bird’s entire Southern California habitat, a region extending north to Santa Barbara County and as far east as San Bernardino and Riverside.