Wildlife Agency OKs Disputed Toll Highway

In a victory for backers of a controversial Orange County toll road, federal wildlife officials Friday gave the nod for construction of the San Joaquin Hills Tollway, even though it would destroy some nesting grounds for the California gnatcatcher.

The move sent shock waves through the local environmental community, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that the proposed road poses “no jeopardy” to the bird because the county has agreed to build it a new habitat, mostly at a closed garbage landfill in Irvine.

The permission comes 19 days before the federal government is to decide whether to add the gnatcatcher to the nation’s endangered species list.

Tollway agency officials heralded the wildlife agency’s decision as a balanced, fair way to ensure that Orange County’s transportation needs be met. The 17.5-mile tollway, to be completed in early 1996, would extend California 73 near John Wayne Airport to Interstate 5 near San Juan Capistrano.

But environmentalists were irate, saying the federal agency has undercut the process of trying to protect the tiny songbird and several dozen other rare species that live in coastal sage scrub.

“How can they do that? That’s absurd,” said Sandy Lucas, chairwoman of the Laguna Conservancy.

Wildlife biologists say the tollway will cut through coastal hills that provide rich habitat for gnatcatchers. As a result, environmentalists say that it will now be difficult, if not impossible, to design preserves ensuring the survival of the species.

“It cuts the heart out of creating preserves before they even start,” said Laguna Beach environmentalist Elisabeth Brown, president of Laguna Greenbelt.

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists say they had little choice under the Endangered Species Act because the road does not jeopardize the entire species, only some nesting pairs.