Discovery of Endangered Toad Prompts Review of Permit

After two days of searching, an endangered toad has been discovered near the Santa Clara River where a developer with plans for 4,300 homes said it had never been seen before.

As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to review a permit it had issued for construction in the river channel, officials said.

The permit is critical to at least two residential projects along the river and its tributary, San Francisquito Creek. They are the 1,800-home North Valencia II and the 2,500-home Westcreek projects, both in Valencia on the east side of the Golden State Freeway.

Ground has not yet been broken for either project.

The light greenish-gray or buff-colored arroyo toad is found in streams and river basins from San Luis Obispo south to Baja California. The toad is an endangered species, and development on land that is considered its habitat requires extra reviews and safeguards.

The developer, Newhall Land & Farming Co., had argued successfully earlier this year that the area near its developments should be excluded from lands declared to be federal habitat for the arroyo toad.

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land, said the company has not seen evidence of the toads, nor any documentation of their existence from U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials. Nor have the company’s own studies and surveys ever found the toad there, she said.

Fish and Wildlife agreed to exclude the area after performing its own field inspection, Lauffer said.

Consequently, the permit allows Newhall Land to reinforce about 10 miles of riverbank with rocks and concrete for erosion control. That permit relied on a finding by Newhall Land that no toads were present, said Bruce Henderson, an ecologist with the corps.

But Nancy Sandburg, a biologist hired by the environmental group Friends of the Santa Clara River, said she found the first toad April 18 and an additional three last week.

“The toads are buried in the sand where the off-road vehicles go,” she said. The vehicles “are running amok on top of them. There are tracks everywhere.”

Rick Farris, senior biologist for Fish and Wildlife, said the agency now knows “they are there.” Discovery of the toads “takes precedence over everything else.”

On Monday, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Santa Clara River said they filed a lawsuit Monday seeking revocation of the permit.