Big Piece of Common Ground

The California gnatcatcher would seem an unlikely candidate for the role of peacemaker.

After all, this is the same infamous songbird that transformed Orange County into a major battlefield of the endangered species wars. Only five years ago, the once-innocuous gray-blue bird seemed destined to become Southern California’s answer to the spotted owl of the Pacific Northwest, pitting developers against conservationists in an ugly test of wills.

Now, in gnatcatcher country, peace seems to be breaking out.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is poised to vote on a plan that is being hailed for striking an historic balance between business and environmental interests.

Initially forged as a truce in the gnatcatcher debate, the voluntary plan has mushroomed into one of the most ambitious experiments of its kind nationwide--one that some think will prove a model for other regions grappling with how to save both wildlife and jobs.

It calls for carving out a 37,378-acre preserve system in central and coastal Orange County, designed to protect rare species while freeing participating landowners from strict endangered-species permit review outside the reserve’s boundaries.

Although the plan was triggered by the gnatcatcher, which lives in coastal sage scrub on some of the nation’s most valuable real estate, it has swelled to include protections for 39 plants and animals in all, from the cactus wren to the coastal rosy boa.

In an era when the federal Endangered Species Act has come under rigorous attack on Capitol Hill by some who call it unreasonably restrictive on business, the Orange County plan is being touted by unlikely cohorts--developers and environmentalists, Republicans and Democrats--as an enlightened means to protect land as well as landowners’ rights.

“To get a general consensus on this, it’s really quite extraordinary,” said County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who plans to support the proposal.

In fact, a key environmentalist who earlier faulted parts of the plan said last week his group will offer general support--albeit with some reservations--following some recent changes by plan designers.

“The point is, we’re not expecting a perfect plan. We have to look at something on balance,” said Dan Silver, coordinator of the the Los Angeles-based Endangered Habitats League. “At this point, the pluses are tremendously more important than the minuses.”

The plan is one of the first crafted under the state effort called the Natural Community Conservation Planning program, launched by Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration five years ago, and officials predict it will be the first major NCCP proposal to win local approval.

What makes the plan even more remarkable, officials say, is that it has taken shape in one of the nation’s most populous metropolitan areas, amid the pressures of a major recession, shifting political bases and a county bankruptcy.

Said Michael Mantell, state undersecretary of resources: “This plan is as farsighted a one as has been done in the United States, and the county deserves an enormous amount of credit for pulling it through.”

The sprawling nature of the preserve can be seen clearly from atop a ridge high in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, most of which will lie inside the preserve boundaries.

Open land stretches for miles, speckled with the gnatcatcher’s favored coastal sage scrub--normally a study in browns but now a striking spring green, looking more like rural Ireland than Southern California.

But along the horizon is an unmistakable smudge of smog, office towers and red-tile-roofed homes.

Environmentalist Elisabeth Brown, who served on an NCCP working group, describes the preserve system as a a cluster of wildlife islands ringed by civilization.

Ideally, she said, the plan offers the public some assurance that some of Orange County will remain open and wild--”that you’ll still be able to look up and see green hills, and go and stroll, and see plants and animals.”

Spread out in two major swaths across central and coastal Orange County, the preserve will total 37,378 acres--nearly nine times bigger than Los Angeles’ 4,200-acre Griffith Park, dwarfing the 1,017-acre Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and the 840-acre Central Park in New York City.

A crucial component of the plan is how it pulls together large pieces of land, to be linked and managed in a way to protect coastal sage scrub, chaparral and other native habitat.

Inside its borders are thousands of acres of existing parkland as well as some parcels in need of replanting and restoration. It also encompasses what Trish Smith of the Nature Conservancy calls “the best of the best” of Orange County’s wilderness.

Among those spots is the Sinks, a dramatic geologic formation deep in Limestone Canyon now owned by the Irvine Co. but destined to be turned over to the reserve.

And it includes 2,000 acres of Irvine Co. land on Lomas Ridge, once slated for development but now being added to the preserve--its inclusion praised for preventing fragmentation of preserve land.

Building the entire preserve system is expected to take 15 years or longer, but in the interim, land is to be managed according to reserve guidelines. In the end, it will be owned by public agencies.

Other NCCP projects are evolving in Southern California, where coastal sage scrub was chosen to test the new state program. A southern San Diego County plan could face local review and approval this spring.

Experts say such plans move away from the traditional notion of the federal Endangered Species Act as a kind of emergency-room measure for rare species, protecting them when they are in deep trouble. In contrast, the NCCP approach looks ahead, providing certainty for landowners while protecting entire ecosystems instead of single species, supporters said.

“Instead of being put in a position of trying to institute emergency measures for species when they’re on the brink of extinction, you’re proactively planning,” said Marc Ebbin, special assistant to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

What developers get in return is a new certainty in planning for their land. Participating landowners who contribute reserve land or money will in turn be allowed to develop outside the reserve’s boundaries with the assurance that they have complied with the Endangered Species Act through the NCCP, meaning they will not have to undergo the act’s strict permitting review.

But the plan does not offer them carte blanche to build wherever they wish, say developers, noting they will still be subject to other standard development approvals.

A major player in the preserve’s creation is the Irvine Co., Orange County’s largest private landowner, which has been credited for its role in helping launch the plan.

About 21,000 acres of the proposed preserve is Irvine Co. land, most of which had already been identified as open space by previous development agreements. Now the NCCP assures the entire acreage will not be developed, officials said.

Said Monica Florian, Irvine Co. senior vice president: “When I look at that map, it seems to me that just about everything I have ever heard coveted by others for protection is in there, preserved in the map.”

Florian praises the NCCP program for taking what she calls the traditionally top-down regulatory approach of the Endangered Species Act and opening it up to local input--a theme echoed by federal and state officials.

Indeed, the program appears to have helped defuse the mounting political storm of the early 1990s, when state and federal agencies wrestled with how to protect the gnatcatcher.

As recently as 1991, an estimated 800 people crammed a Newport Beach auditorium, armed with slogans and picket signs, as a state panel debated whether the gnatcatcher deserved state legal protection.

But gradually, the tumult ebbed as the focus shifted to the development of the NCCP. Only a few dozen people showed up when the Orange County plan won unanimous approval of the county’s Planning Commission on April 3. There were no picket signs and little rhetoric.

One factor may be the plan’s goal of bringing together different interest groups, officials said.

“Maybe that’s why there aren’t 800 people at the hearings, because so many of the parties have been at the table, trying to find an answer,” Florian said.

Still, some remain hesitant.

Among them is the city of Laguna Niguel, which has decided not to join in the plan out of concern it could limit the city’s power to plan for its own parkland.

“Nobody has given us a compelling reason to be part of the program,” said City Manager Tim Casey.

Without Laguna Niguel’s participation, the coastal preserve loses an important link to a second reserve plan now being designed in south Orange County, officials said.

Some environmentalists and scientists, meanwhile, contend that independent scientists did not play enough of a role in the plan.

A scientific panel drew up NCCP guidelines, and the state later named six outside scientific advisors to assist the program. But as of late March, at least four of those advisors had not been given the central/coastal draft plan issued in December. In fact, one advisor, ornithologist Jonathan L. Atwood, said he finally had to ask a California environmentalist to bundle up a copy and mail it to him at his Massachusetts home. Atwood’s research as a UCLA graduate student helped lead to the gnatcatcher being listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“They’ve made it quite evident that they’re not interested in outside opinion,” said another advisor, Jon Keeley, an Occidental College biology professor who specializes in coastal sage and chaparral vegetation.

But plan designers say scientists have been involved from the start. One NCCP official said that the state-appointed advisors were never intended to review plans, but rather to respond to specific questions. And a Nature Conservancy representative said he has been talking to the advisors in recent weeks to help clarify their roles.

On balance, most people associated with the Orange County reserve design say they are generally satisfied with the outcome.

“It’s amazing to me that the environmental community and the developers have been able to come forward and agree on something of this magnitude,” said Supervisor Don Saltarelli, who will vote for the plan.

Added environmentalist Silver: “We’ve seen that people can work together without it evolving into confrontation.”

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Saving Habitat

A key goal of the new preserve is protecting habitat, not just individual plants and animals. The largest habitats to be preserved, in acres:

Coastal sage scrub: 18,527

Chaparral: 6,950

Grassland: 5,732

Marsh/riparian: 2,113

Woodlands: 940

Source: Natural Community Conservation Plan

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Proposal to Preserve

Plans for a sprawling wildlife preserve system--the Natural Community Conservation Plan (NCCP)--will go before the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The 37,378-acre complex will allow wildlife and native plants to thrive absent the threat of encroaching development. Some facets of the NCCP have been applauded by environmentalists and developers alike, but other parts have proven controversial. Among the program’s key features and some surrounding issues:

1. Coal Canyon: Debate has erupted over lack of protection for what scientists say is only known viable passageway for mountain lions between the Chino Hills and the Santa Ana Mountains. Failing to preserve the connection could help hasten the extinction of the estimated 30 to 40 mountain lions in the Santa Anas. A 1,550-home development has already been approved for the Anaheim-area canyon, thwarting preservation efforts.

2. North Ranch Policy Plan Area: A 9,456-acre expanse owned primarily by the Irvine Co. but not officially part of the preserve. Some land guidelines are in the plan, and large areas of habitat are expected to be added to the preserve once development plans are completed.

3. Lomas Ridge: A 2,000-acre portion, at first earmarked for development, has been added to the preserve by the Irvine Co., as part of negotiations with government agencies. Assures gnatcatchers around Siphon Reservoir are not cut off from the rest of the preserve.

4. “Panhandle” of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station: 1,033 acres of base land rife with gnatcatchers, including 92 identified sites, largest concentration in the central and coastal area. Addition to the preserve is not certain. U.S. Department of the Interior has requested the area as part of El Toro base closure proceedings; decision is pending.

5. Wildlife crossings: Four passages are to be built under San Joaquin Hills toll road and five under Eastern toll road to promote animal mobility around the preserve.

6. Upper Newport Bay connection: Key connector with the bird-rich bay allows animals to pass back and forth--especially the coyote, which can check the population of possums, skunks and other predators of the rare birds nesting in and around the bay.

7. Linkages: Special areas connecting large chunks of the preserve so animals can move between them; some are golf courses.

8. Dana Point Headlands: Preserve plan has fueled furor over the rare Pacific pocket mouse, added to the federal endangered species list in 1994 after about 36 mice were found here. Current plans call for a $700,000 study of the mouse and discusses relocating them (strenuously opposed by some environmentalists) or having the federal government buy the mouse-occupied area. Land is owned by M.H. Sherman Co. and Chandis Securities Inc., which oversees financial holdings of the Chandler family and is a major stockholder in Times Mirror Co., publisher of The Times.

9. Salt Creek corridor: Preserve supporters are disappointed at news the corridor will not be included because Laguna Niguel officials have chosen not to participate. Corridor had been earmarked as the sole link between the coastal preserve and a similar South County preserve now on the drawing boards.

Preserve Facts

The pioneering state program attempts to defuse battles between developers and environmentalists over endangered species laws.

Background: Plans for Orange County’s preserve began in the early 1990s, spurred by concerns that laws protecting the rare songbird called the California gnatcatcher could impair county development. The preserve was created under the auspices of the state Natural Community Conservation Planning program, or NCCP.

Land: Nearly half is currently public parkland; much of the remainder is owned by the Irvine Co.

How the Preserve Works: Driving the plan is the notion that rare plants and animals can benefit by the creation of large-scale preserves. Landowners who participate in the plan would be freed from strict endangered species laws on land outside the preserve, although they would still be subject to other development approvals.

Funding: Endowment of more than $10 million contributed by participating landowners.

Players: Voluntary program has brought together landowners, environmentalists, and representatives of Orange County and the state and federal governments.

Restoration: In parts of the preserve, native plants have been overrun by non-native invaders or supplanted by cattle pastures and farm fields. Plan calls for replanting some degraded areas with coastal sage scrub plants.

Management: Reserve land will be managed to enhance the health of native plants and animals. Tactics include the removal of non-native plants such as the invasive artichoke thistle. Managers will also trap and destroy cowbirds, the non-native “nest parasite” that lays its eggs in gnatcatcher nests, tricking the threatened songbird into raising the voracious cowbird nestlings at the cost of its own young.

Protection Needed

The preserve will protect the habitat of 39 plants and animals, including several rare species. Those listed as “endangered” need urgent protection. “Threatened” means less danger of extinction than endangered and “California species of special concern” indicates either habitat or numbers is shrinking. Some of the animals/plants at stake:

Endangered animals

Peregrine falcon (federal and state)

Southwestern willow flycatcher (federal and state)

Pacific pocket mouse (federal)

Southwestern arroyo toad (federal)

Quino (Wright’s) checkerspot butterfly (federal proposed)

Riverside fairy shrimp (federal)

San Diego fairy shrimp (federal proposed)

Least Bell’s vireo (federal and state)

Threatened animals

Coastal California gnatcatcher (federal)

State species of special concern

Orange-throated whiptail

San Diego desert woodrat

Northern harrier

Sharp-shinned hawk

Southern California rufous-crowned sparrow

San Diego horned lizard

Coronado skink

Western spadefoot toad

Golden eagle

Prairie falcon

Coastal cactus wren

Endangered plants

Laguna Beach dudleya (federal proposed, state threatened)

Threatened plants

Santa Monica Mountains dudleya (federal proposed)

Sources: Natural Community Conservation Plan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game and Natural Community Conservation Plan documents

Researched by DEBORAH SCHOCH / Los Angeles Times