Planning Panel Begins Its Review of Significant Ecological Areas

Ephemeral springtime pools north of the Santa Clarita Valley, where endangered fairy shrimp flourish, are one of the little-known ecological assets of the Los Angeles County area that should be preserved, according to a new report.

The Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday began its review of significant ecological areas, the first update of the county’s list in more than two decades.

The proposal in the report would more than double the existing acreage of the county’s ecological areas, to 577,000 acres, including unincorporated and incorporated land, private holdings and national forest.

The county’s current 61 designated ecological areas, a list first adopted in 1980, were created to help preserve rare plants and animals.

But consultants who wrote the new report told the commission Wednesday that existing areas are too fragmented to preserve biodiversity. “What is required is combining linkages,” said Steven Nelson, a study consultant. “These islands will become more and more isolated.”

To promote wildlife corridors and broader areas of habitat, the new report recommends consolidation of many of the existing areas in unincorporated county territory. The springtime pools outside Santa Clarita, known as the Cruzan Mesa Vernal Pools, are the only new nomination.

Under the proposal, 12 consolidated significant ecological areas would remain, in places from the Kern County border in the north, to Puente Hills in the south and San Dimas Canyon and San Antonio Wash in the east. Offshore, the Santa Catalina Island ecological area would be expanded to include nearly all of the island.

Designation as a significant ecological area does not preclude development, but it can limit the type of building, require more protections for wildlife passages and watershed protection, and mandate ecologically sensitive agricultural practices.

Environmentalists say the county has a mixed record on protecting these sensitive areas.

“There has been inappropriate development in too many of our significant ecological areas,” said Bill Corcoran, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Angeles Chapter. “In the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Gabriel Valley and Santa Clarita.”

“What’s missing is a proactive role by the county to acquire this remaining land as open space to prevent damaging development,” Corcoran said.

Last month, environmentalists sued the city of Industry’s redevelopment agency over its purchase of 2,500 acres of Tonner Canyon. The pristine canyon was described by environmentalists as a vital link in a 30-mile wildlife corridor; under the new proposal it would be included in the Puente Hills ecological area.

At Wednesday’s meeting, some commissioners said they were concerned that private owners would be hindered if their property were designated as significant.

Staff members of the planning department said new boundaries would not apply to development projects already approved by the county.

The largest candidate for special status is in the Antelope Valley, where more than 222,000 acres stretch from the Kern County border to Little Rock and Big Rock creeks. It is home to two federally endangered species, the arroyo toad and the California desert tortoise.

By comparison, the Cruzan Mesa Vernal Pools area would cover 958 acres. Owned by Pardee Homes of Los Angeles, the area is scheduled for development.

“We’ve always been able to live with the rules including the [significant ecological areas],” said Pardee Senior Vice President Len Frank.

Located east of Bouquet Canyon and south of Vasquez Canyon Road, the vernal, or springtime, pools are home to the Riverside fairy shrimp, which is federally listed as endangered, and California Orcutt grass.

Two of the rare pools are about 50 to 100 feet in diameter and a third covers 5 to 10 acres, said Daryl Koutnik, senior biologist for the county Department of Regional Planning.

They are the only significant vernal pools remaining in the county, he said.

The first community meetings on the report are scheduled over the next several weeks, but final decisions by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors are not expected until 2002.

Because it has been more than 20 years since the county plan was developed, some of the current ecological areas have been incorporated into cities. The proposal would eliminate some areas because of habitat damage. One example is Terminal Island, Koutnik said, which lies entirely within the city of Los Angeles and where the endangered least tern’s habitat was disturbed by military activity.

The report can be viewed at:

https://planning.co.la.ca.us/drp_revw.html.