Plants Uproot Road Project Until Spring

There’ll be no blasting until there’s some blooming.

First, Caltrans crews were forced to halt rock blasting Tuesday after they found an apparent bobcat den on a $31-million road-widening project along the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Now it’s possibly endangered plants that have put off work on a section of a 3.5-mile stretch until spring.

The plants could be lily, wild onion, monardilla, buckwheat or rabbit brush, all native to the area, but Caltrans environmentalists say they won’t know for sure until the plants bloom in spring. Although these plants are not protected, some subspecies of the plants are endangered.

“We are very environmentally conscious here and will delay a project if something like a plant or animal on the endangered species list is found at a construction site,” said Margie Tiritilli, a Caltrans spokeswoman. She said it was the department’s environmentalists who discovered the bobcat den and plants during a final walk-through Tuesday morning.

Transportation officials will consult with state Department of Fish and Game botanists to determine whether the plants found near the freeway work site are endangered. If so, Caltrans will take steps to protect the plants.

“If it is an endangered [species] with a limited population, there may not be many options,” said Mary Meyer, a plant ecologist with the fish and game department. “If there are many populations, there may be ways to recreate habitats. Private properties may be acquired and preserved and can be used to make up for the loss.”

In the past, transportation officials have replaced wetlands, built bat caves, replanted lagoons and delayed work during tidewater goby fish-spawning season to accommodate wildlife, Tiritilli said.

Meanwhile, construction crews will continue to lay concrete, widen bridges, excavate roadway and build drainage areas as part of the highway improvement project, which began in June 1996 and is expected to be completed in spring 1999, Tiritilli said.

Tuesday’s delay cost $2,000, she said, because rock-blasting equipment and specialized crews and explosives had been brought to the site by FCI Constructors of Granada Hills before the work was called off. The rock-blasting project accounts for an estimated $1 million of the project’s budget.

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The rock blasting was to have taken place along a 3.5-mile stretch of freeway between Escondido and Agua Dulce canyon roads in the Santa Clarita Valley, Tiritilli said.

The plants and apparent bobcat den were found 50 to 100 feet from the blast site about three miles north of Vasquez Rocks Park.

Although not legally obligated to safeguard the den, Caltrans officials halted the rock-blasting operation to avoid harming any bobcats burrowed in the craggy mountainside along the highway. No bobcats were found Tuesday.

Bobcats make their dens in rocky hillsides where they hollow out burrows often 3 to 6 feet deep, fish and game experts said. Wildlife biologists use miniature cameras to peer into holes to determine whether a den is active or dormant.

If newborn bobcats are found, the den remains undisturbed until the young are old enough to survive a move. Smoke canisters are used to remove older bobcats. If there were bobcats at the site, they too would get a reprieve until spring.