Gnatcatcher Battle May Shift to Foothill Ranch : Environment: Developer says grading permit is forthcoming for 100 acres that biologists call “extremely important” nesting grounds for the tiny songbird.

A 100-acre area of the Foothill Ranch development could be the site of the next round in the increasingly bitter battle between developers and environmentalists over the California gnatcatcher.

While Gov. Pete Wilson tries to enlist developers statewide in voluntarily preserving the songbird’s nesting grounds, the parcel awaits a county grading permit that is “imminent,” according to a spokesman for the developer, Foothill Ranch Co., a division of Laguna Hills-based Hon Development Co.

Environmentalists and biologists call the area’s chaparral, native grasses, cactus and coastal sage scrub “an extremely important” nesting grounds for the gnatcatcher and another tiny bird reportedly being pushed aside by development, the cactus wren. But a Foothill Ranch Co. spokesman said this is only the newest development in a project that has been going on for six years.

Project manager Chris Downey said his company has abided by all the county’s rules and regulations. The initial grading on the parcel, near the future interchange of the Foothill Transportation Corridor with Glenn Ranch Road, will be done to accommodate the corridor and will be only a continuation of other, already graded parcels to the north and south, Downey said.

But Dan Silver, the coordinator of a coalition of 30 environmental groups called the Endangered Habitats League, argues that the environmental reports on the project are outdated and “shoddy” and that 10 pairs of gnatcatchers and 30 pairs of cactus wrens are nesting in the area.

Silver demanded that a new biological survey be done of the area and that grading be put off until after the nesting season.

“I’m not saying it’s illegal, but it’s extremely unfortunate and just another example of how we are losing important habitat,” said Silver, noting that federal officials have estimated that as much as 2,300 acres of coastal sage scrub has been destroyed in Southern California since August. “We would like to see at a minimum this land surveyed so we know what the impacts are, so we understand what we are losing . . . especially considering a proper environmental assessment was not done to start with.”

Downey said that all the biological surveys were done at the time of environmental approvals in 1988 and that the county does not require an update. He added that grading needs to be done in the drier months for erosion control.

“If you don’t like to see development, you can always come up with a reason not to grade a site anytime, 12 months out of the year,” Downey said. “We can’t win.”

Downey defended his company’s commitment to the environment of the area by alluding to the more than 1,300 acres of the 2,743-acre ranch that were dedicated to the county’s Whiting Ranch Regional Park as permanent open space. The park abuts the disputed parcel, Downey said.

“We tried and we think we did a good job of saving the most varied and the most interesting area out there,” Downey said.