U.S. Declares Gnatcatcher Threatened Southland Bird : Environment: The action caps a 2 1/2-year fight. Development of some habitat will be permitted.

The Clinton Administration on Thursday declared the California gnatcatcher a threatened species, making the embattled songbird the centerpiece of a national experiment.

The long-awaited decision on the fate of the tiny Southern California bird, which nests among some of the nation’s highest priced real estate, comes as the Administration is seeking to balance the demands of the environment and the economy. The action caps one of the fiercest battles in the two-decade history of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt proclaimed that a “trail-blazing” approach to protecting the gnatcatcher could lead to an overhaul of the federal government’s problematic methods for protecting imperiled animals and plants. Instead of providing the usual last-ditch safety net for individual species, Babbitt hopes entire ecosystems can be preserved for an array of creatures without triggering economic woes.

“The bad news is the gnatcatcher’s decline is serious enough that we must list it as threatened,” Babbitt said. “The good news is that the listing need not bring development to a halt.”

Although the gnatcatcher was once common throughout Southern California, only an estimated 2,500 pairs of the 4 1/2-inch, blue-gray birds that mew like kittens now exist, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Included are about 1,500 pairs in San Diego County and about 750 pairs in Orange County.

By declaring the gnatcatcher a threatened species, the wildlife agency has immediately afforded it the full protection of the Endangered Species Act. Harming and harassing the bird or damaging its nesting grounds is now prohibited without the approval of biologists at the national wildlife agency.

But conditions outlined by Babbitt--and tailor-made for Southern California--permit development of some of the bird’s habitat, representing a departure from past federal efforts to protect species and the core of the Administration’s experiment.

Under those special rules, landowners could build on their properties without delay if they participate in an experimental program created by Gov. Pete Wilson to set aside preserves of coastal sage scrub. A mix of sagebrush and other shrubs provides homes for the gnatcatcher and about 75 other rare plants and animals also under consideration for federal protection.

Called the Natural Communities Conservation Planning program, the Wilson Administration’s alliance of developers, state and local government planners, biologists and environmentalists has been working for the past 18 months to plan preserves.

The partnership is now about to begin the difficult task of identifying and acquiring the needed land. The state’s goal is to complete the plans by November, but if negotiations hit a snag, it would stretch much longer.

The battle over the bird has been unusually heated because it nests on the same low-lying sagebrush mesas and coastal canyons in Southern California that are ideal for building large housing developments. Up to 400,000 acres in Orange, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties and the Palos Verdes Peninsula are at stake, much of it with commanding ocean or canyon views.

Despite Babbitt’s attempt to soften the blow, adding the gnatcatcher to the endangered species list clearly marked a defeat for California developers.

Deeming the tiny bird “our worst nightmare,” California’s building industry had mounted a three-year, multimillion-dollar campaign to prevent the gnatcatcher from being granted federal protection.

Environmentalists who made protection of the bird a priority were elated at Thursday’s announcement, even though the Interior Department declared the gnatcatcher “threatened” instead of the upgraded listing, “endangered.”

“For the first time, the gnatcatcher now enjoys legal protection. That, in my view, is the major development of the day,” said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which petitioned the Interior Department to protect the bird in September, 1990.

Both developers and environmentalists said Thursday they hope Babbitt’s new approach will lead to new successes in preserving nature.

“The message is cooperation, not conflict,” said John Sawhill, national director of the Nature Conservancy. “We’re setting a precedent that will benefit both people and wildlife in Southern California.”

Jim Whalen, an executive of Newland California, a major San Diego County development firm, deemed the new approach a “shared vision” that “represents the bankruptcy of the case-by-case approach to listing. . . . I am optimistic that this debate between jobs and the environment will turn out to be a hollow one.”

“This seems to me to be a real sincere effort,” added Monica Florian, senior vice president of the Irvine Co., which owns large amounts of land in Orange County inhabited by gnatcatchers.

Thursday’s announcement, however, does not resolve all the points of contention in the debate.

A lawsuit filed by the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California is still pending against the Interior Department. The suit alleges that the federal agency’s review of the gnatcatcher was illegally secretive and scientifically flawed.

The BIA’s Board of Directors has not decided whether to pursue the suit.

Developers and environmentalists also said they still have some questions and doubts about what happens to development plans before the state conservation program identifies and sets aside preserves.

“It’s certainly well-intentioned, but it’s going to come down to implementation--whether what the secretary says translates down to his staff,” said Richard Broming, a vice president of the Santa Margarita Co., which owns 35,000 acres of undeveloped land in south Orange County, much of it home to the birds.

The decision to list the bird is final, but the proposed rules for carrying the order out will be open for public review for 60 days. The rules will not go into effect until Wilson’s conservation group reaches agreements to set aside preserves.

“There’s certainly some risks here by all sides. I concede that readily,” Babbitt said. “The Fish and Wildlife Service reserves the right to say this experiment failed . . . but that’s not going to happen because we all understand that the consequences for failure are unthinkable.”

Babbitt warned that if the California groups fail to reach scientifically sound agreements to protect the bird, or lag behind a timetable to be set by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency would not hesitate to take over the program.

The gnatcatcher plan marks the first time in the 20-year history of the Endangered Species Act that the Interior Department has offered to allow development when protecting a species.

Under the law, the Interior Department can consider only scientific data--not economic impact--when deciding whether a species warrants federal protection. But Babbitt invoked a little-used clause that allows special conditions for protection once a bird is classified as threatened.

In essence, Babbitt is transferring some federal authority over protection of the bird to the Wilson Administration and local governments in Southern California. Such a passing of power is unprecedented, especially since it shows that a Democratic Administration is entrusting a Republican governor with a controversial environmental issue.

“This is the first time in the history of the Endangered Species Act that we simultaneously list (a species) and then take a step back and say we are prepared to defer to the habitat planning process in California,” Babbitt said.

Michael Spear, assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency decided on a threatened classification for the bird instead of endangered because the danger to the bird has subsided somewhat since stronger local and state controls on development were implemented.

The tiny thrush-like bird, one of the smallest in North America, joins the ranks of almost 400 other animals across the nation that have been declared endangered or threatened, including the Northern spotted owl, the grizzly bear, the sea otter and the bald eagle.

(Southland Edition) The Songbird That Roared

The Interior Department’s decision Thursday to list the California gnatcatcher as a threatened species ended an 11-year federal review. The bird and its sage scrub habitat will now be afforded the protection of the federal government.

Gnatcatcher Counts

Approximately 2,500 pairs of gnatcatchers exist, all of them in Southern California.

COUNTY ESTIMATED PAIRS San Diego 1,514 Orange 757 Riverside 261 Los Angeles (Palos Verdes Peninsula) 30