Raptor Center Might Relocate to Parkland

The Orange County Bird of Prey Center is expected to enter negotiations with the county about building a bird rehabilitation facility at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park that would also house a ranger’s office and public restrooms.

The Board of Supervisors will decide today whether to authorize the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department to begin talks with the center, which heals injured raptors and educates the public about local bird life.

The center’s facility would be privately funded and built at a 3-acre staging area that connects to several park trails. The area is now undeveloped, but officials hope to eventually add a parking lot, trees, picnic tables, water fountains, kiosk and landscaping.

The roughly 8,000-square-foot building would house various Bird of Prey Center operations as well as a park information center.

Denton Turner, park design manager, said the proposal represents a public-private partnership that will benefit park users.

“It seems like a pretty good fit for this area,” Turner said of the center, which is now in Lake Forest.

Turner said the county is talking with several other private firms about helping fund other improvements at the staging area.

The Orange County Bird of Prey Center, founded in 1986, has been embroiled in a zoning dispute with Lake Forest officials over its present location in a residential section of the city.