Interests Collide in Wildlife Corridor

A decades-long effort to establish a vast wildlife corridor from the Cleveland National Forest to Whittier is jeopardized, environmentalists say, by a proposed 3,000-acre development on the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Despite assurances by the developer that half of the property will remain open space, much of it restored to wildlife habitat, conservationists are bracing for a fight against Aera Master Planned Community, which could put as many as 3,600 homes among the hills north of Brea and south of Diamond Bar and Rowland Heights.

Aera’s property lies in unincorporated areas of both counties, which must grant approval. Environmentalists have begun a campaign against the project, and four nearby cities have passed resolutions calling for the land to remain open space.

The Aera project is drawing particularly fierce opposition because of its strategic location.

The property, currently an oil field and cattle pasture, lies in the middle of the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor. That corridor consists of about 40,000 acres of mostly undeveloped hillside that run about 30 miles from the Riverside Freeway near the county line, through Chino Hills State Park and toward the San Gabriel River Freeway near Whittier.

The swath of open space is vital for animals such as coyotes and deer, which need large territories to roam and breed.

For two decades, public agencies, with help from local conservation groups, have been buying land in the corridor, including what became the state park. The Aera property, environmentalists say, is critical to their preservation plans.

“It is the missing link,” said Claire Schlotterbeck, executive director of Hills for Everyone, a Brea-based conservation group.

George Basye, a vice president at Aera Energy, which owns the land, agrees, but he has a different perspective.

The property is in the middle of a hot housing market near Diamond Bar, La Habra and Brea, with quick access to the Orange Freeway.

The housing crunch, Basye argues, will drive more families east to the Inland Empire, worsening commuter traffic unless more homes are built closer to job centers in Los Angeles and north Orange County.

Shell Oil bought the property in the 1920s, and for decades the pumps and grazing cattle shared the land with the wild animals that moved along the hills.

But the wells are drying up, and Aera, a subsidiary of Shell-ExxonMobil, seeks other uses for the land.

The company proposes to develop residential and commercial projects on the flatter portions and to restore much of the canyons and hillsides with native vegetation. Although 90% of the land is in Los Angeles County, about a third of the homes are planned on the Orange County side of the border.

The counties’ general plans allow for limited development in the area.

Of the 1,500 acres the developer plans to leave as open space, about 700 will be preserved to extend the wildlife corridor through the development, company officials say. Included in that are about 250 acres for what Aera calls an “environmentally sensitive golf course.”

Such golf courses, which incorporate native vegetation with large portions off-limits to golfers, have grown popular in recent years, but their impact on the environment is unclear. The open space allows wildlife to cross, especially at night, but some environmentalists remain unconvinced.

“It is better than houses, but it is not habitat,” Schlotterbeck said. “It is not a wildlife corridor just because they say it is.”

Her group and others have complained that the project will forever block the flow of wildlife and decrease their habitat.

The Aera property became even more important for preservation efforts after the city of Industry bought 2,525 acres in Tonner Canyon, east of the oil field, and announced plans to build a dam and reservoir interrupting a portion of the corridor. Environmentalists sued to block the November 2000 purchase, alleging that Industry had not done proper environmental studies. They lost their appeal last month.

To the south of Industry’s property and Aera’s project are 500 additional undeveloped acres that Brea hopes to purchase and add to the corridor by linking the Aera property to the east with Carbon Canyon Regional Park and the state park.

Brea is competing with Industry for conservation grants to buy the land. The city says it wants the parcel because it provides access to its larger lot to the north and that the smaller portion will remain open space.

But the smaller link becomes moot if Aera develops its 3,000 acres to the west and breaks the chain, conservationists argue.

“You have to balance the need for housing with quality of life,” said Brea Mayor Bev Perry, who is on the board of the Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority, the public agency charged with preserving the corridor.

“Human beings need more than a house,” Perry said. “We need open space. We need to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. We can’t pave all of Southern California. Once you pave it, it is gone.”

The city councils of Brea, La Habra, La Habra Heights and Whittier passed resolutions late last year opposing Aera’s project.

To them and others, the development threatens to spoil two decades of efforts and more than $100 million from public funds and donations spent to preserve the hills.

Nearly 4,000 acres have been purchased by public agencies on the west side of the corridor with fees collected for waste dumped at Whittier’s Puente Hills Landfill. The formation of the 13,000-acre Chino Hills State Park on the east side was another important link in the chain. In 2000 and 2001, the state bought 680 additional acres along the Riverside Freeway, including Coal Canyon, which connected the state park to the Cleveland National Forest.

Although roads cross the wildlife corridor in several places, the conservation groups have worked to create underpasses for wildlife.

Aera officials maintain that they can preserve the passageway for the animals while providing much-needed housing.

“It is disappointing that hard positions are being thrown out there before all the information is provided,” said Basye, who added that the project’s environmental impact report has yet to be completed. “At the end of the day,” Basye said, “the facts will show that balance is possible.”

The company expects the report to be completed by early next year, when it will be presented to the public before the counties consider approval. Basye said it will be at least three to four years before groundbreaking if the development is approved.

He said that Aera has not ruled out selling the property to conservation groups, but that it is too early to discuss a price because the company has not had a chance to explore all of its options.

Schlotterbeck, of Hills for Everyone, said there is only one solution: buying the missing link from Aera. It is not clear where the funding would come from, but Schlotterbeck is optimistic.

“When the political will is there,” she said, “the money will follow.”