Halt to Marsh Clearing Ordered : Environment: The state tells the Saddleback Valley Unified School District it is violating the law by draining wetlands.

The state has ordered the Saddleback Valley Unified School District to stop clearing and draining one of the last remaining natural wetlands in the growing South County or face possible criminal prosecution.

The district allegedly violated state Fish and Game codes on March 27 when workers began clearing a marshy stretch of cattails and willows in a neighborhood of estate-sized homes in the Nellie Gail Ranch area, according to a state Department of Fish and Game report obtained by The Times.

Work has been stopped, although district Supt. Peter A. Hartman denied the existence of a wetlands there. Hartman said that the district has complied with the order and that no decision has been made on future action.

Despite the order, the district will continue plans for an elementary school at the three-level, 23-acre site bounded by Mustang Drive, Nellie Gail Road and Red Corral Road, Hartman said.

About six acres have been determined to be wetlands, said Fish and Game biologist David Drake. Drake, acting at the request of nearby residents, last week inspected the site where workers had begun uprooting the six-foot cattails with a tractor and digging a ditch to drain the land.

Hartman said the clearing was being done as part of the district’s annual fire-protection program. The work to partially drain the area and eliminate the undergrowth has been repeated annually for several years without objection, Hartman said.

The work will probably kill many of the birds and small mammals that nest in the tall grasses and willows, according to Pete DeSimone, a local spokesman for the Audubon Society. The water apparently percolates from an underground stream or other natural source.

“My concern is that there is a valuable resource there, and it needs to be protected,” Drake said.

The district bought the land nine years ago for $5.3 million. Hartman said geologists who earlier inspected the land as part of the grade school proposal didn’t say it was too environmentally sensitive to build on.

“At that time, we never heard a peep about it being a wetlands,” Hartman said. “It only seemed to become a wetlands when the option of building a school somewhere else died.”

District officials hope to begin construction next year on an 800-student grade school in the middle of the parcel. They plan to sell off the remaining land to finance construction of the school. The school district has obtained all necessary permits, Hartman said, and is now looking for a residential developer to buy the surplus property.

But Drake said the project is on hold until he can conduct further studies, issue an environmental impact report and suggest mitigation measures. If the school district attempts “any further modification,” Drake said, the matter will be turned over to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Drake’s inspection had been sought by residents Ken Keegan, a member of the school site location committee, and Bill Simmons. For several months, the two have urged the district to choose an alternate site for the proposed school.

Keegan, who lives across the street from the marsh, denied that he simply wants the school moved out of his neighborhood.

For the past several months, Keegan and Simmons have been writing letters and calling the Fish and Game Department as well as state education officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In a letter to state schools Supt. William Hoenig, Simmons asked that “as an environmentally conscientious citizen, I urge you not to condone this action but to direct the Saddleback Valley Unified School District to cease violating the spirit of federal and state environmental protection laws and the destruction of this natural wetlands habitat.”

Keegan charged that school district officials have repeatedly ignored pleas to save the wetlands.

“Here is a school district that is supposed to be teaching the kids about the environment,” said Keegan, adding that he would not object to building the school on the outer two tiers. “It’s inconceivable to me that they want to destroy a valuable wetlands.”

Drake agreed, saying that only 10% of Orange County’s natural wetlands still exist today.

“(The school district) has the unique opportunity to create a six-acre outdoor learning environment for the children,” he said.