FILLMORE : Firm to Pay Fine and Restore Habitat

A Fillmore citrus company has agreed to a pay a $40,000 fine and restore some of the 40 acres of native habitat on the Santa Clara River that it bulldozed four years ago, the Ventura County district attorney’s office announced Thursday.

As part of a Superior Court judgment, the William Shiells Co. has agreed to the penalty without admitting any wrongdoing.

Company President Glen Griswold said the company didn’t know it had broken the law by clearing land that it owned along the river. He said the company received a permit from the Flood Control Department for the work but was unaware it also needed permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Fish and Game.

The district attorney’s office of consumer and environmental protection, which prosecuted the case, said ignorance was not a legal excuse for violating the law.

“A lot of farmers in the area don’t know about the requirement on permits. We hope they’ll know now,” said Michael Schwartz, the deputy district attorney handling the case. “But (Shiells) has given several different excuses for doing what they did. And what they did was completely denude over a mile along the river.”

Schwartz said the area had provided habitat for the least Bell’s vireo, a small bird on the endangered species list.

Griswold said he and other landowners along the river have formed the Santa Clara Valley Property Owners Assn. to represent their interest in ongoing negotiations regarding the Santa Clara. Over the next two years, the association will join environmentalists, government agencies and cities drawing up plans to protect the river and the interests of farmers and cities along the river.