ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : In a Word, It’s a Good Idea

A proposed federal compromise on the gnatcatcher, listing the tiny songbird as “threatened” rather than “endangered,” is a good idea. In that clever substitution of adjectives lies a lot more flexibility for all sides in the continuing controversy. It could help balance economic and environmental imperatives.

The change in designation would have at its core a recognition by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the efficacy of fostering and encouraging a habitat preservation approach to the saving of species. That would constitute an important acknowledgment at the federal level of what already has been understood in California.

The state’s Resources Agency has been at the forefront nationally of an effort to find viable alternatives to the copious, controversial and often too-late species-by-species listing of endangered wildlife.

The encouragement of that approach at the federal level would lend consistency to the conservation efforts of different levels of government, and it would square nicely with recent remarks made by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

The new secretary told Congress this month that preventive planning balances species preservation with economic imperatives. He’s right about that.

The federal plan would allow developers to avoid the restrictions of the Endangered Species Act if they participate voluntarily in efforts to create preserves for the bird.

Endangered status would give them no flexibility at all. There is an urgency to this matter because the deadline for a federal decision on whether to grant endangered species status for the gnatcatcher is March 17.

But most important, the plan as outlined would lend encouragement to the continuing state efforts, which have resulted in wide participation by Orange County developers in the habitat preservation program. That’s all to the good.