2,145 Acres of Gnatcatcher Habitat Razed : Environment: Bulldozing of large coastal scrub areas since August could prompt U.S. to declare species endangered. State has been relying on voluntary plan to protect birds.

A “significant” amount of habitat for the California gnatcatcher has been bulldozed in Southern California since August, despite the Wilson Administration’s promise to protect the songbird, according to data released Monday by federal wildlife officials.

“It is definitely a significant amount of habitat lost. There is no doubt about that,” said Fred Roberts, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service botanist in Carlsbad who helped compile the data. “It opens up the eyes of most of the biologists I know.”

At least 2,145 to 2,200 acres of habitat was destroyed for 34 developments or roads in Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the past nine months, according to the agency’s data. By far, the largest losses were in San Diego County, where about 1,200 acres were bulldozed for 14 projects.

Gnatcatchers--small, blue-gray birds with a song resembling a kitten’s meow--can survive only in coastal sage scrub, vegetation that grows just in Southern California and Baja California. The mix of shrubs is believed to be one of the nation’s most depleted wildlife habitats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 55,000 acres of scrub occupied by gnatcatchers exist. The agency’s biologists do not know how many of the birds were wiped out since August, but they said about two-thirds of the bulldozed acres were known to contain their nests.

The federal agency is documenting the losses in an effort to decide whether to declare an emergency listing of the songbird as endangered and immediately protect the habitat. The gnatcatcher was proposed for the nation’s endangered-species list in September.

“Obviously it can make a big difference (in the decision) if we have a lot of clearing going on,” Roberts said. “Definitely we are monitoring it. We are very concerned about this.”

The findings put increased pressure on the Wilson Administration, which has been struggling since August to initiate a voluntary program to safeguard the bird in an effort to avoid endangered-species listing.

Environmentalists say the data confirms their fears that Southern California developers would rush to destroy the habitat before listing might occur.

“This is the first documented loss of habitat that the state can’t dismiss or ignore,” said Mary Nichols, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Developers, however, said the data is meaningless because it doesn’t take into account protective steps they are taking in exchange for development, such as setting aside other land or trying to re-create the bird’s habitat elsewhere.

“There is no law against any of these. They were projects approved quite some time ago without the new protections that are being included in newer projects,” said Laer Pearce, a spokesman for a coalition of Southern California developers.

Officials in the state Resources Agency deny that the voluntary effort is failing. They say it was not intended to be a moratorium and that the 2,200 acres might not be critical to the bird’s survival.

“This data was made available to us today and it is impossible to assess it immediately,” said Andy McLeod, a spokesman for the state Resources Agency. “Any loss of coastal sage scrub is disturbing, and to the extent that any gnatcatcher habitat is being lost, the possibility of a listing under the Endangered Species Act is made more likely.”