Finding Common Ground on Conservation

Hoping to defuse future conflicts between the environment and economic growth, planners in Orange County are touting a proposal to create a 39,000-acre wildlife reserve while allowing some development of sensitive land.

The plan, three years in the making, is being hailed by its supporters as a rational compromise that could be a model for protecting endangered species at a time when environmental laws are under attack.

“I think it is a great day for the Endangered Species Act because those in Southern California have proven that the act has the capacity to respond to the changing interface between development and conservation,” said Dennis D. Murphy, director of Stanford University’s Center for Conservation Biology, who helped design the project.

The catalyst for the effort was the California gnatcatcher, a rare songbird that dwells in some of Southern California’s prime coastal real estate. Fearful that federal safeguards to protect the bird could create economic and political havoc, a coalition of government officials, developers and environmentalists joined to seek a voluntary solution.

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Its designers say the plan would:

* Carve out a system of reserves from Costa Mesa to San Juan Capistrano. It would include 18,800 acres of the coastal sage scrub that is home to the gnatcatcher.

* Manage that reserve to give 42 plants and animals--some rare, some more common--the same protection they would receive under state and federal endangered species laws.

* Allow developers who contribute reserve land or money to develop land outside the reserve, including some that is home to the gnatcatcher and other rare species, without going through the complex paperwork required by endangered species laws.

The purpose is to preserve habitats before species decline to the point where they need federal and state protection. Another intent is to move away from a species-by-species approach to wildlife protection.

“This is a plan where landowners, conservation interests and local governments recognized an opportunity to plan for a future that preserves biodiversity and at the same time presents a blueprint for growth,” said Jay Ziegler, deputy director of intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

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Some environmentalists remain cautious, hoping to win changes in the plan before its final adoption next year.

“We will be reviewing the plan, and we have not yet determined if we’ll be able to give it our support or not,” said Dan Silver, coordinator of the Endangered Habitats League, an organization of about 30 conservation groups and individuals in Southern California.

The reserve would be owned by public agencies, and its management would be funded by an endowment of more than $10 million contributed by participating landowners.

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Scheduled for Protection

The proposed 39,000-acre Orange County reserve is intended to protect the habitat of more than 40 birds, plants and animals, including endangered and threatened species as well as more common wildlife.

Targeted Species (3)

- Coastal California gnatcatcher *

- Coastal cactus wren

- Orange-throated whiptail

Mammals (3)

- San Diego desert wood rat

- Coyote

- Gray fox

Birds (11)

- White-tailed kite

- Northern harrier

- Sharp-shinned hawk

- Golden eagle

- Prairie falcon

- Peregrine falcon *

- Red-shouldered hawk

- Rough-legged hawk

- Loggerhead shrike

- California horned lark

- Southern California rufous-crowned sparrow

Reptiles (6)

- Coastal western whiptail

- San Bernardino ringneck snake

- Red diamondback rattlesnake

- San Diego horned lizard

- Coronado skink

- Coastal rosy boa

Amphibians (3)

- Arboreal salamander

- Western spadefoot toad

- Black-bellied slender salamander

Plants (9)

- Foothill Mariposa lily

- Catalina Mariposa lily

- Laguna beach dudleya

- Santa Monica Mountains dudleya

- Nuttal’s scrub oak

- Small-flowered mountain mahogany

- Heart-leaved pitcher sage

- Coulter’s Matilija poppy

- Tecate cypress

Conditionally Covered Species (7)

- Least Bell’s vireo *

- Southwestern willow flycatcher *

- Southwestern arroyo toad *

- Quino (Wright’s) checkerspot

- Riverside fairy shrimp *

- San Diego fairy shrimp

- Pacific pocket mouse *

- On federal list of threatened or endangered species

Source: Natural Community Conservation Plan