Development to Be OKd if Land Is Saved for Rats

Striving to balance the needs of an imperiled rodent with the pressures of development in Riverside County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday said it would allow development of 4,400 acres of habitat occupied by the endangered Stephens kangaroo rat if the builders buy an equal amount of land for use as protected preserves for the animal.

The compromise will result in the death of some kangaroo rats, small, nocturnal animals that resemble squirrels. But federal biologists predicted that the remaining population of rats will benefit from the agreement because it requires the preservation of large, contiguous chunks of habitat.

The Stephens kangaroo rat was listed as an endangered species by the federal government in October, 1988. The rodent once occupied 300,000 acres in Riverside, San Bernardino and northern San Diego counties, but habitat losses to agriculture and urban development have sent rat populations plummeting.

Today, the species is confined to about 22,000 acres in western Riverside County. Its precise numbers are unknown because rodent populations fluctuate dramatically and the rat’s elusive nature makes it hard to count.