Of Bird Lovers and Builders : Fish and Game Is Under Fire for Alliance With Developers of Housing Project Adjacent to San Jacinto Wildlife Area, a Refuge for Waterfowl and Upland Game

Listen. There is nothing but the sound of birds--all kinds of birds.

“As soon as there’s water, the birds move right in,” said Tom Paulek, manager of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area for the California Department of Fish and Game. “Look at this. It’s terrific.”

Runoff from the raging San Jacinto River has filled adjacent Mystic Lake, which is normally dry farmland.

Tony Metcalf, a biologist at UC Riverside, described it as “something to behold . . . awe-inspiring.”

It’s hard to imagine the scene shattered by hammers and saws.

It’s even harder to imagine the opposing alliances headed for a showdown in Riverside County Superior Court on Jan. 29. Fish and Game, guardian of the state’s natural resources, stands with developers who plan to build 7,763 homes on 3,038 acres next to the 5,210-acre refuge.

For permitting the project, the DFG and the City of Moreno Valley are being sued by the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society and the Friends of Northern San Jacinto Valley, a group of citizen environmentalists. They are supported by the Sierra Club’s San Gorgonio chapter, the Cherry Valley Bow Hunters, Southern California Ducks and the California Wildlife Assn.--bird watchers, bird lovers and bird shooters all on the same side.

A lot of Fish and Game employees are hoping their side loses. They see the department becoming a rubber stamp of political hacks serving what they perceive to be Gov. Pete Wilson’s pro-development agenda: jobs at the expense of wildlife.

The developers, Moreno Highlands Investors--essentially, the Crown family of Chicago and the Cohens of Denver--are listed on the petition as a “real party in interest,” as owners of the property, with no direct responsibility to the public.

Metcalf said he is disappointed in Fish and Game for not “defending our resources better.”

But attorney Kate Neiswender, who represents the plaintiffs, said: “Fish and Game had a lot of pressure on them, from very high up. The governor’s office has been pressured heavily by these developers, who obviously contribute heavily to his campaign.”

When Wilson was mayor of San Diego, General Dynamics was one of the city’s largest employers. The Crowns own most of General Dynamics.

The DFG’s top legal adviser was transferred out last week for trying to block the San Jacinto agreement and similar actions.

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As a refuge for wintering birds, San Jacinto is virtually unsurpassed in California. In season, the peace is broken by the sound of shotguns. Offering limited waterfowl and upland game opportunities, it has the best success ratios of any public lands in the state. Some 350 duck hunters averaged 2.8 birds apiece in the season ending last weekend. An annual two-day pheasant hunt has been similarly productive.

“It’s in the top 1% or 2% of any Christmas bird counts anywhere,” Metcalf said. “As far as species diversity, it’s the highest inland count in North America.”

Metcalf and colleagues from the Audubon Society counted nearly 19,000 birds of 156 species within a 3 1/2-mile radius of the headquarters last month. Scientific journals from early in the century noted the valley’s value as a bird sanctuary.

It was established as a wildlife area in 1980, more than four years before Moreno Valley was incorporated into a suburban population explosion. Soon more land was needed for homes, and the undeveloped area east of town and north of the refuge was most attractive.

Now, the plaintiffs say, Fish and Game has sold out its mandate and scuttled one of its best success stories by agreeing to a plan that will allow high-density home construction within 200 to 400 feet of the boundaries.

Audubon would have settled for a 2,000-foot buffer, but the DFG led negotiations for mitigation with the developers that calls for 200 feet on the east side and 400 feet on the north. The 400-foot zone includes a six-lane highway and an urban park.

Plaintiffs say the buffers are unsuitable either for humans or birds. A No. 6 shotgun pellet can travel as far as 865 feet, according to Mike Maier of Southern California Ducks--and, he fears, the first time a pellet hits a child, or a wounded mallard lands in a schoolyard or on a car, hunting will be history at San Jacinto.

That would make the game birds happy, but the introduction of household pets and a dense human presence will be bad news for the far more numerous non-game species, as well.

DFG Region 5 Manager Fred Worthley was the department’s negotiator. But insiders, including Al Taucher, a member of the state Fish and Game Commission from Long Beach, say Worthley’s negotiating leverage was undermined.

“He had his marching orders,” said Taucher, who added that the commissioners--appointed by the governor, as are DFG officials--felt pressure from the developer’s attorneys, too.

“I was approached to back off,” Taucher said, adding that the matter then was allowed to slip through without a vote, over his protests.

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Does anyone smell a rat?

The Stephens’ kangaroo rat is listed as “threatened” by the state and “endangered” by the federal government. It lives at San Jacinto. But the DFG issued the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency a special permit under Section 2081 of the Fish and Game Code that allows an “incidental take” of a threatened or endangered species--in this case, the rat.

John Sullivan, the chief deputy director of the DFG appointed by Wilson last year, said, “Both the department and the Fish and Game Commission decided that this (buffer) was adequate.”

But Eugene Toffoli, for 15 years the DFG’s top legal counsel, balked at the San Jacinto deal and similar actions benefiting developers. Last week he was transferred to the Office of Oil Spill Prevention. He refused comment.

Sullivan said the DFG, “worked with the developers the way we normally do when they’re working in an area where there’s an endangered species. We worked out an agreement that does provide for mitigation for what they might do to the kangaroo rats in the area . . . purchase and set aside additional land in other places and fund the management of this land to make up for losses that occur in the area where they’re building.”

Originally, Moreno Highlands planned to build 341 houses on 192.6 acres west of the refuge. Instead, it agreed to give that land--worth about $5 million--to the DFG, and the DFG in turn waived a mandatory mitigation payment of $1,950 per acre for building on the rat’s land--a savings of about $1 million.

Opponents also say it’s not even a smart place for high-density housing. The tract is bracketed by two earthquake faults, and last month a third fault was discovered running right down the middle--perhaps directly under the San Diego Gas & Electric facility.

UC Riverside geophysicist Steve Park said the third fault suggests “the possibility of a larger earthquake than originally thought possible.”

Temblors aside, opponents say the plan is doomed to become an incompatible relationship.

“You don’t see vast concentrations of wildlife in urban settings, and there are reasons for that,” Paulek said. “You’re going to have noise, traffic, urban lights, cats and dogs. People are going to object to the shooting activity. It will likely generate mosquitoes. The most disturbing thing is that we’re just starting to realize the potential of this area.”

The developers’ point man, David L. Cohen, responded this week: “Moreno Highlands has been extensively reviewed as a part of two public processes over the past year. Both of them have agreed that Moreno Highlands is a well-conceived, environmentally sensitive project.”

Cohen would not comment on the charges of governmental pressure, nor would he confirm the financial figures.

The court split the suit into two parts. First, the project will be challenged for an inadequate specific plan and failures to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Moreno Valley general plan.

If that doesn’t work, the plaintiffs can appeal--or send in the rat, whose treatment they will charge constituted a violation of California’s Endangered Species Act.

“It’s fortunate that the Stephens’ kangaroo rat is there,” Maier said. “It’s buying time for ducks.”

A victory might not stop the development but could force adjustments to make it compatible with the refuge.

Virginia Null, president of the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, said: “Some reconfiguration could solve the problem.”

“Both areas can exist,” Paulek said. “There was an opportunity to do some compatible land-use planning, and that opportunity was forsaken. Public interest and wildlife values didn’t receive their due consideration.”

The Audubon Society will conduct a tour of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area Saturday at 8 a.m. Those interested can meet at the headquarters on Davis Road off the Ramona Expressway.