Plan to Increase Wetlands Unveiled : Conservation: Broad Wilson proposal would also give incentives for developers to preserve some areas, but O.C. conservationists, landowners see flaws.

Gov. Pete Wilson announced a statewide plan Monday to increase the amount of wetlands in California by as much as half, while simultaneously making it easier for developers to obtain permission to build in some environmentally sensitive areas.

With many details unresolved and timing uncertain, Resources Secretary Douglas P. Wheeler described the broad policy as including restoration and purchase of some wetlands and incentives for private owners to preserve their wetlands.

At the same time, Wheeler said the plan seeks to reduce red tape for developers and farmers, a position underscored by support from the California Building Industry Assn. and California Farm Bureau.

“We will not only make clear our intention to protect the resource, we will also make clear our intention to find ways to reduce the regulatory burden,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler was joined at his news conference by a representative of a group established to protect waterfowl, and won tentative plaudits from some environmentalists.

The Clinton Administration is working on a national wetlands protection program, expected to be released today.

The federal policy is expected to put tougher restrictions on development of Alaskan wetlands while working out a compromise to help farmers by exempting some agricultural land. It also is expected to close loopholes for developers nationwide who are now able to avoid regulation when they build on small pieces of wetlands.

How the Clinton Administration’s plan will affect Wilson’s proposals in California was not immediately known.

Gary Gorman, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, had not yet obtained details of Wilson’s plan, but said that he opposes any change that makes it easier for developers to build in wetland areas.

“We’ve lost so much wetlands that the remaining wetlands should be protected,” Gorman said. “It sounds to me like Wilson, with his Republican flair, is trying to weaken environmental protection.”

The Huntington Beach wetlands are Orange County’s fourth largest, after those in Bolsa Chica, Seal Beach and Newport Beach, Gorman said. At the turn of the century, the Huntington Beach wetlands network covered 3,000 acres, he said. Now, all but 180 acres has been lost to development. Most of that acreage is privately owned.

Allowing landowners “credits” to enhance or create wetlands in other areas in exchange for building on their own is a flawed idea, Gorman said.

“Creating a wetland somewhere else never works as well as leaving alone the one that was there for a few million years,” he said.

Robert Nastase, co-managing general partner of Pacific Magnolia Group, which owns 66 acres of the Huntington Beach wetlands, said that wetlands are so broadly defined that they unnecessarily limit developments that would benefit the public.

Pacific Magnolia would like to preserve part of its acreage as wetlands with public access and build commercial property on the remaining part, but has been unable to gain even preliminary approval from the various agencies involved. “From our perspective, the state has taken our property,” Nastase said.

An aide to Resources Secretary Wheeler said the state plan would be implemented in part by executive order, though some provisions may require legislation or federal approval. The plan released Monday contains no timetable for implementing its provisions.

The plan will begin with an inventory of existing wetlands, Wheeler said. Once the wetlands are charted, a process that could take a year, there will be planning groups set up around the state to figure out ways to protect the resources.

Whatever the acreage turns out to be, Wheeler said the state’s goal will be to increase wetlands by 30% to 50% by 2010.

The state policy calls for partnerships of state officials, environmentalists and developers to resolve disputes and formulate plans to help restore wetlands in Southern California.

Wheeler also proposed taking over from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority to make decisions on development rimming San Francisco Bay. If the program works, Wheeler said, the state would seek to take over all permit authority regarding wetlands from the corps, which now has a key role in the decisions.

The policy comes as Wilson struggles with several major environmental issues.

“Give us a break,” Wheeler said when asked why the Administration was unveiling the plan more than 2 1/2 years after the governor took office.

The plan would cover all the state’s wetlands, from San Francisco Bay to Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach, where the Koll Co. proposes to build 5,000 homes. But the plan released Monday does not specifically address how disagreements over development will be resolved.

Glenn Olson of the National Audubon Society said a partnership between developers and environmentalists has helped create new nesting areas for waterfowl in the Central Valley. In Southern California, he said, it might open the way to revive rivers that long have been dry.