Preserve Beats South County Tollway

* Many thanks to Debra Schoch and The Times for her two excellent articles “Weighing Habitat, Homes on 131,000 Acres” (May 12) and “Toiling to Finish the Toll Road System” (May 14). Southern California is one of the “hot spots” for rare and endangered species of plants and animals, and--as the first article points out--the wild lands in South County are among the most important in Southern California.

It is important to preserve these lands not only for the sake of the creatures that live there but for the quality of life for the residents of Orange County.

This area will not only provide recreation for us if it is preserved but limit unacceptable urban sprawl with its concomitant traffic congestion and pollution in South County.

As the second article notes, the proposed southern Foothill Transportation Corridor (FTC) will bisect the future preserve, traverse San Clemente State Park and degrade the San Mateo Creek riparian area. It will also open South County to development. Traffic from thousands of new residences will clog the Riverside Freeway and Interstate 5 where the FTC joins them, creating new traffic problems for those roads.

Since there are few residents along the proposed southern FTC, there is no purpose for it. And if the citizens of Orange County succeed in getting a large wilderness preserve in South County, the need for this destructive road may never arise.

DAVID PERLMAN

Chair

Sierra Sage/South O.C. Group

Sierra Club