U.S. Rules Gnatcatcher Is Threatened Species

Federal officials issued a decision Friday that the California gnatcatcher merits continued listing as a threatened species, despite assertions by developers to the contrary.

“This removes the uncertainty about whether the bird will stay on the list,” said Michael Spear, western regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issued the 23-page opinion.

Rob Thornton, a lawyer representing the Orange County Transportation Corridor Agencies, which had opposed the listing, said, “We’re very disappointed.”

The two sides had been at odds on the matter since March, 1993, when the federal government first listed the rare songbird, a 4 1/2-inch member of the thrush family, as threatened. The action slowed all development plans in areas where the birds nest, including some of the most desirable ocean- and canyon-view land in Southern California. Among the projects affected was the 17-mile San Joaquin Hills tollway through Laguna Canyon.

Last year, responding to a lawsuit by the Transportation Corridor Agencies and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin ordered the gnatcatcher removed from the list, saying that the government had failed to make public all the data it had relied upon in declaring the gnatcatcher threatened.

U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt responded almost immediately by making the information available and petitioning the judge to reconsider while federal authorities provided evidence to prove the listing was needed.

Two months later, writing that what “should have been done initially . . . is being done now,” Sporkin ordered the bird re-listed pending the outcome of the government’s re-examination of its data.

That process has now been completed, Spear said Friday, resulting in a new determination that the bird is indeed a distinct subspecies worthy of protection. “Several scientists looked at it and their conclusion was that it was correctly listed in the first place,” he said. “We’re delighted; the original data has now been subject to rigorous peer review.”

No decision has been made on whether to mount a new challenge to the listing, Thornton said Friday. The government’s action, he said, “is somewhat of a surprise to me because of the overwhelming scientific evidence against listing. I am frankly resigned to the fact that they are politically committed to this listing without regard to the scientific facts.”