Scientists recommend conservation area stay intact

By: JOSE CARVAJAL - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 4, 2006 11:24 PM PST ∞

FRENCH VALLEY ---- A group of scientists has concluded that a key area in the county's sweeping conservation plan is a vital habitat for certain species of butterfly and bird and shouldn't be swapped out in the plan for more land elsewhere in the county.

That recommendation is going on to the Western Riverside County Conservation Authority's board of directors, which is scheduled to consider Monday whether it wants to alter the plan for "Core 2" ---- an area that is generally in an unincorporated part of the county with a portion that runs along Warm Springs Creek on the east side of the Hogbacks, a range of hills in eastern Murrieta.

The board meets at 1 p.m. Monday at the County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St.

The authority agreed earlier this year to study Core 2, one of seven key habitat areas in the county's billion-dollar Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, to determine whether development has encroached on the area too much to make it a valuable habitat area.

The study was sparked by a developer's contention that Core 2 had been compromised and that the plan should be reworked. The Palos Verdes Estates-based developer, Winchester 700, is planning to build more than 1,000 homes along Warm Springs Creek and suggested that Core 2 be reduced. It offered to make up its obligation to the conservation plan by providing land in Anza.

But in a report released last week, the scientists convened by the conservation authority concluded that the area is too important to populations of the Quino checkerspot butterfly and the California gnatcatcher to let go.

While the edges of the area might be disturbed by development, the report said, Core 2, for the most part, is still a vital wildlife habitat location.

"Of particular value are the large patches of undisturbed coastal sage scrub, chaparral and riparian habitats in the center of Core 2," the report said, adding that even the disturbed areas are important because they provide a link to other core areas.

Based on that conclusion, authority Deputy Executive Director Joe Richards said last week, administrators are recommending that the authority board leave the plan for Core 2 intact.

Representatives for Winchester 700, which must still provide a share of its land for Core 2, could not be reached for comment Friday. But Richards said that administrators are recommending that the authority allow for changes to be made in the plan for the area on a smaller scale.

Ultimately, the authority set out to go about studying Core 2 the right way, he said.

"One of the things we said up front was that the science would guide what we would do there," he said.

But Monica Bond, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said that there was already a consensus within the local scientific community that Core 2 is a vital aspect of the county's conservation plan.

While she said she was pleased to see that the scientists convened by the authority continued to uphold that, Bond also said that she was frustrated that the authority was considering altering the plan to begin with.

"The issue was addressed long ago when they were crafting the (Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan," she said. "Fewer than two years into the plan, they are already talking about getting rid of that. It makes me nervous for the future of the plan."

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.

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