Conservation Efforts by the TCA

* Regarding your Nov. 14 editorial concerning the use of conservation easements as a method to preserve and protect open space:

The Transportation Corridor Agencies has preserved, restored or created approximately 2,037 acres of habitat and open space to compensate for construction of the Foothill, San Joaquin Hills and Eastern transportation corridors.

In some cases the TCA owns this property outright. In most cases the underlying fee title is held by another entity, but the TCA holds a perpetual conservation easement that protects habitats and wildlife.

A conservation easement is a legally recorded document, which transfers with the property any time it is sold to another city. Therefore, land held in a conservation easement is protected forever.

The editorial correctly noted that the TCA has purchased conservation easements from the Rancho Mission Viejo Co. These large easements were specifically purchased to promote functioning ecosystems.

We do not advocate, nor do we practice the preservation of “postage stamp museum dioramas.” In the Coastal/Central Natural Communities Conservation Plan area, our easements provide habitat for the threatened California gnatcatcher and link the San Joaquin Hills to the Upper Newport Bay.

We hope our South County easements will similarly contribute to the reserve created through the Southern NCCP planning efforts.

Our easements were purchased with the approval and encouragement of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Fish and Game.

LAURA COLEY EISENBERG

Principal of Resource Management

Transportation Corridor Agencies

Santa Ana