Oceansiders Work to Save Vital Highway AND Endangered Bird

Worried that environmental officials may all but kill a much-needed highway project because it runs through a valley inhabited by an endangered bird, an Oceanside group has launched a campaign to persuade the state Legislature to step in and ensure that the road gets built.

As part of the drive, the Oceanside Jaycees are volunteering to finance the relocation of the least Bell’s vireo from its nesting area in the San Luis Rey River valley to the Santa Margarita River, several miles north on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

Group leaders say they believe that moving the eight or more mated pairs of vireos that nest in the dense thickets along the river’s banks is a sensible solution that balances the needs of birds and humans alike.

“The birds have rights and the humans who desperately need that highway have rights as well,” said Peter Biniaz, chairman of the group leading the campaign. “We feel this proposal is a fair compromise and a safe alternative for the birds.”

Despite their good intentions, the Jaycees may have trouble winning support for their proposal in the scientific community. Studies show that the bird tends to be “site tenacious,” meaning that it becomes attached to a particular stretch of a particular river and might be expected to return there even if relocated to a similar habitat.

Moreover, Oceanside officials--who are as desperate to see the highway project built as the Jaycees are--say they believe road and bird can co-exist peacefully in the same valley.

“We feel it’s possible to have the highway . . . and at the same time take specific measures that will promote the survival of the vireo and even increase its numbers,” said Dana Whitson, Oceanside’s special projects director. “We don’t think it’s necessary to relocate the bird in order to go forward.”

The least Bell’s vireo is a small, olive-gray bird known for its spectacular song. At one time, the migratory bird roamed from Northern California to Mexico. But its numbers have dwindled as its streamside habitat has been destroyed and brown-headed cowbirds, which displace eggs in vireos’ nests, have invaded its territory.

Biologists estimate that 300 breeding pairs of the vireos remain in California.

Last week, federal wildlife officials placed the vireo on the federal endangered species list, a move that threatens to delay or alter more than a dozen public-works projects in Southern California.

Two of those projects are in Oceanside--a three-mile highway bypass for California 76 and a flood control project in the San Luis Rey Valley.

Oceanside officials say the bypass, a project they have fought to build since the early 1950s, is needed to alleviate heavy traffic congestion on the existing route and to cut the road’s fatal accident rate, which is 12 times the state average. Ultimately, the new highway will be extended to Interstate 15.

In June, the city ended a long battle with the California Coastal Commission over the highway’s alignment. It won approval from the state panel after agreeing to move the road’s path as far as possible from the vireo’s nesting area and provide mitigation for any habitat lost or damaged by construction.

Officials say the listing of the vireo--and the possible designation of the San Luis Rey River as a so-called “critical habitat”--could jeopardize the project. The decision means the bird is protected by the Endangered Species Act and requires that all federal or federally licensed projects be reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That’s what worries the Jaycees. Biniaz said he is convinced that the highway “will never get built unless we mount public pressure necessary to move the thing along.”

“They’ll do studies and more studies and it will be back-shelved and forgotten,” said Biniaz, a project manager in Oceanside’s city engineering department. “We consider this the No. 1 issue for our community and we are determined to get action as soon as possible.”

Biniaz said his group plans to kick off the campaign next week. The Jaycees plan to circulate petitions and gather 25,000 signatures to be presented to Gov. George Deukmejian and the Legislature later this year.

In addition, they are sponsoring a letter-writing drive in local schools, urging children to write their state and federal representatives urging them to push for construction of the highway.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Assn. of Governments has formed a task force to study methods of habitat conservation for the vireo.