Funds to Help Save Habitat

California officials will receive $600,000 in federal funds for a novel program to save coastal sage scrub, the vanishing habitat that is home to the California gnatcatcher and other endangered species, state and federal agencies announced Wednesday.

The intent of the state program is to get developers to voluntarily protect critical habitat to ward off listing species as endangered.

Much of the money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service--which matches $600,000 state officials have already set aside for the project--will be used to fund a scientific panel trying to identify locations of coastal sage scrub in Southern California that are the most valuable to wildlife.

Considered one of the most depleted animal habitats in the nation, the mix of vegetation is found mostly in San Diego, Orange and western Riverside counties.