Gnatcatcher Mandate Tied to Wildlife Funds : Conservation: $1.5 million for Wilson’s conservation program comes with strict habitat preservation goal.

A state Senate committee Thursday allocated $1.5 million for the Wilson Administration’s wildlife conservation program, but attached a condition that the Administration must persuade developers to protect 70% of the California gnatcatcher’s nesting grounds by June.

The committee, headed by Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), also imposed a series of other mandates that must be met before the money is allocated. More than half the cities in at least two Southern California counties must join the program and agree to assess damage to the bird’s habitat before they approve development projects. Also, the state must set up a special enforcement unit to ensure that the habitat is protected.

“Without those conditions, it is not a workable program,” said Mary Shallenberger, an aide for the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee.

Administration officials said Thursday that the full impact of the conditions won’t be clear to them until today, when state officials meet to write the language for the budget action. But Secretary of Resources Douglas Wheeler opposed the conditions during testimony at the afternoon hearing in Sacramento.

The budget proposal must go to a conference committee of both houses next month, and the Senate committee will hold an oversight hearing in June to gauge the effectiveness of the controversial program.

The gnatcatcher, a songbird proposed for listing as a national endangered species, nests in coastal sage scrub, a declining mix of Southern California sagebrush.

The Resources Agency’s conservation program was initiated in August, when a top Wilson Administration official urged the state Fish and Game Commission not to list the bird as an endangered species because the new project would protect the gnatcatcher’s habitat through voluntary means.

In the program, the Administration is trying to persuade landowners to sign agreements to protect coastal sage scrub for 18 months until a permanent set of preserves is created. City and county governments in Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties are being asked to sign contracts guaranteeing that they will assess the impact on coastal sage scrub before approving development projects.

Persuading developers to enroll 70% of the land is a tough mandate for the Administration. The enrollment period for the state program began a month ago and ends in three weeks. So far, no private landowner or local government has signed up.

Resources Agency spokesman Andy McLeod said the numbers enrolled aren’t important to the bird’s survival.

“We believe the most important criteria is the quality and location of that habitat, and that cannot be measured simply by a percentage of the total,” McLeod said.

McCorquodale, however, said he chose the 70% because Wheeler has continually told him that he expects 60% to 70% of the land to be enrolled in the program.

The $1.5 million granted by the Senate committee for the 1992-93 fiscal year compares with $1.75 million that Wheeler requested.