Ruffled Feathers : Big Bear Builder Stirs Ruckus at Eagles’ Roosting Spot

For hundreds of years, bald eagles have migrated here each winter from frigid nesting grounds in the Pacific Northwest to roost in scraggly pine trees and hunt for fish and waterfowl in the lake.

Many gather at Baker Pond, a shallow waterfowl refuge at the eastern end of the 15-mile-long lake where plentiful tall pine trees provide the federally endangered birds with a commanding view of hunting grounds below.

Now, a 1.5-acre spit of land separating the southern shore of the pond from a 125-acre bald eagle preserve is at the heart of a controversy over the eagles’ future.

Newport Beach developer Harold Graham, who owns the land between the Castle Glen Eagle Preserve and Baker Pond, is determined to make a profit by building homes on it--and that has created a ruckus in this San Bernardino Mountain community of 11,000.

Graham wants to build four two-story residential units on the site despite pleas from the City of Big Bear Lake, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Fish and Game Department, the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, all of which fear that such a development could have a disastrous impact on Big Bear’s winter flock of about 30 bald eagles.

“The safest bet is to be darn careful and rule out anything that could have a negative impact on the eagles,” said Dan Yparraguirre, a state Fish and Game Department biologist. “After all, we are talking about the national bird here.”

But Graham does not agree.

“I like eagles . . . I like pigeons,” said Graham, 53, in an interview at the property. “But I personally don’t think I am responsible for the protection of the eagles.”

City officials and environmentalists have said that they are willing to pay for the land that Graham said he bought for $15,000 in 1973.

The Nature Conservancy, a private environmental organization that owns and manages about 900 wildlife preserves around the world, has offered to put up money to buy the land, if the city and other interested parties can promise to repay the cost.

But the $115,000 that city officials say the land is now worth will not satisfy Graham.

“I offered it to the city for $250,000,” said Graham, adding that he was offered that much for the land five years ago. “The ball is in their court now.”

Graham acknowledged that his hard-line style of bargaining has not made him a popular man here. But he is not deterred.

“I get upset when people say, ‘What happens when, for example, a flower goes out of existence?’ ” Graham said. “I say, ‘What happens when free enterprise goes out of existence?’ ”

Such assertions have ruffled the feathers of groups such as the Friends of Big Bear Valley Preserve, which was organized to protect what little remains of Big Bear’s undeveloped land and wildlife. Members believe that the 10-pound birds of prey with a 7-foot wingspan are an important part of the local ecology as well as a tourist attraction for the city.

Environmentalists believe that hunting, pesticides and other encroachments of civilization have significantly diminished bald eagle populations worldwide, except for the coast of Alaska and British Columbia. The 30 that winter here compose the largest concentration of bald eagles in Southern California.

“This is the eagles’ last stand at Big Bear Lake,” said Tim Krantz, president of the group and a San Bernardino County planning commissioner. “The issue is whether or not we can justify a minor subdivision to create a few more residential lots in the valley at the expense of our bald eagle.”

“Money cannot buy the feeling you get when you see an eagle soar,” added Beverly Abbott, a local resident of 10 years. “I’ll fight for them. They were here before us, darn it! We can’t drive them away.”

The battle over Baker Pond began eight years ago when Graham first proposed developing about 18 acres of land on its north side and 1.5 acres on its south side. Since then, Graham said he has had to spend thousands of dollars and modify his plans several times in order to meet objections of city, state and federal officials.

“He’s been getting a bureaucratic runaround because of the sensitivity of the property he owns,” said Graham’s attorney, Ernest Riffenburgh. “No one individual should be made to pay for the public benefit.”

Relations Worsen

Graham’s relations with the city worsened in May, 1985, when he illegally cut down a centuries-old Jeffrey pine that served as an eagle perch on the south side of Baker Pond. Graham, who was fined more than $500 for the action, claimed that the tree was rotten and in danger of falling.

Last Thursday, Graham won a major victory when the San Bernardino County Planning Commission approved his plan to develop 53 lots on the 18 acres on the north side of Baker Pond, which is just outside the Big Bear Lake city limits. The county Board of Supervisors on Monday is to take a final vote on whether Graham can start construction on that project.

The battle lines now have shifted to Graham’s other parcel, which lies within Big Bear Lake’s city limits and is critical to the survival of the bald eagles, environmentalists said.

There, eagles have the sun at their backs, which reduces glare that makes it hard to spot fish, the environmentalists said. The two-story structures that Graham has proposed could block the eagles’ line of sight from perch trees to the pond.

“We are going to fight to the max over the south shore site,” said Larry LaPre, president of the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society. “If Graham is allowed to build on it, there is a very high risk of reducing the population of eagles dramatically.”

Try to Derail Proposal

In an attempt to derail Graham’s proposal, the Big Bear Lake Planning Commission in January voted to prohibit virtually any development on the south shore parcel, even though it has residential zoning. That decision has placed the city in a “legally sensitive” situation, a city official said.

“Here you have a man sitting on property with a lake vista,” said Alvin Beardsley, Big Bear Lake city attorney, “and a government body telling him that he must pay taxes on it but may not use it.”

Graham intends to appeal the commission’s decision before the Big Bear Lake City Council.