Conservationists Get the Silent Treatment at Hearing : Gnatcatcher: Activists are frustrated when officials studying songbird protection don’t respond to concerns.

A handful of conservationists opposed to proposed toll roads and other Orange County development got no answers Wednesday when they vented concerns about the fate of the California gnatcatcher to a panel of state and federal officials.

At a sparsely attended public hearing where a few people brought signs declaring, “Stop the Toll Road,” they voiced their opposition to road projects and development, seeking responses from the officials.

To their frustration, the five representatives of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the state Department of Fish & Game did not respond.

Daniel Shillito, a hearing officer from the Interior Department, told the afternoon session’s 10 speakers that the hearing was intended only for recording testimony and gathering evidence and not for discussing issues.

“It feels like talking to a black hole,” objected Chris Hegge of Laguna Beach, who broke into tears when she told the panel pristine hills have been bulldozed into flat developments. In frustration, she abruptly stopped talking and returned to her seat.

Although another session was scheduled for the evening, at which Shillito expected to hear from developers, only about 35 people came to the afternoon hearing in the Irvine Marriott conference room.

The hearing was a step in the process of shaping guidelines for protection of the gnatcatcher, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared threatened in March.

The tiny songbird’s habitat in Orange County and throughout Southern California is on prime real estate.

To soften the economic impact of its protected status, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has proposed a plan allowing landowners to build on most of their property without delay if they set aside permanent preserves of sage scrub for the bird and other species under a conservation program created by Gov. Pete Wilson.

The size and location of the preserves will be based on scientific studies and negotiated by a group of developers, environmentalists, biologists, local government planners and state and federal wildlife officials.

Gail Kobetich, California planning manager for the Interior Department and one of Wednesday’s five panel members, said during a recess that the purpose of the hearing was “to get comments on the process.”

After a public comment period is closed Sept. 6, rules detailing the gnatcatcher policy will be written into the Endangered Species Act. “We would like to have the final version by the end of September,” Kobetich said.

Larry Eng, manager of Gov. Pete Wilson’s Natural Community Conservation Planning program that will identify areas for the permanent preserves, said several speakers had good ideas that will be considered.

He cited recommendations that gnatcatcher habitats be preserved to sustain not only the bird but the area’s diverse environment of plants and wildlife.

“A lot of biologists have thought that is the way we’ve needed to go for a long time,” Eng said.