Builder’s Initiative Bodes Well for Bird : Company’s Forthright Approach to Saving Gnatcatcher Habitat Sets Good Example

The painful search for agreement between those who would preserve the environment and those who would create development and jobs has focused on the fate of the California gnatcatcher, a tiny songbird. Unfortunately, the state has been unable to develop a plan that would set aside from development a protected gnatcatcher habitat area on which both developers and environmentalists could agree. But in Fullerton, one good idea for handling the necessary trade-offs appears to be taking root quite literally.

Unocal Land & Development Co., which plans an 883-unit housing development and a golf course in the East Coyote Hills area, has launched a two-year experiment to restore adjacent land as habitat for the gnatcatcher. This unique project is possible because of a developer’s unusual willingness to seek the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s advice on their project even before it was necessary to do so.

Under this anticipatory approach, the developer has taken the sensible route of working with the federal government, instead of employing stalling tactics and wrestling with the concerned environmental groups. The novel relocation plan won’t come cheap; it will cost Unocal about $1.5 million. The company must clear thick grass from an area for revegetation, install an irrigation system and plant coastal sage scrub seed on seven acres of land. Already last week, crews began clearing.

Because efforts to create an ecosystem through revegetation are so untried for coastal sage scrub, giving up 45 acres of existing habitat is something of a gamble. But Unocal is to applauded for being the first developer to seek out U.S. approval for a gnatcatcher plan. To be sure, there was self-interest involved because the bird may be added to the endangered species list later this year. But this remains an exciting experiment.

If the developer commits as it should to long-term maintenance of the land, here is a way to cut through the dilemma of balancing habitat protection and new growth. As habitat disappears all around while the gnatcatcher debate rages on, this commitment from the company has to be a good sign.

The willingness to work with the federal government so far has elicited praise from environmentalists normally skeptical about the motives of developers. Indeed, everybody with an interest--and that includes the city of Fullerton--appears willing to work together on this project. That’s a rare bit of good news about a rare bird.