Environmentalists Seek to Jail San Bernardino County Supervisor

The Spirit of the Sage Council based in Pasadena, California and the Native Forest Council of Eugene, Oregon have joined forces to stop the county from destroying protected habitats and wildlife that use the 763-acre preserve.

The groups notified the county, the San Bernardino Association of Governments, the California Department of Transportation, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Federal Highways Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the impending lawsuit.

Since 1994, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game have been unsuccessfully requesting that San Bernardino County protect the globally imperiled riversidean and alluvial fan sage scrub habitat area.

When the rare habitat was purchased in 1996 to create the North Etiwanda Preserve, the area was to be conserved in its entirety to mitigate for damages caused by a highway expansion project in San Bernardino County.

The Route 30/210 highway project destroyed rare sage habitats and 21 listed and rare species of plants and wildlife.

In return, federal and state taxpayer funds were used to purchase the land at a Resolution Trust Corporation auction and create the North Etiwanda Preserve, with an endowment of $700,000 for its permanent protection and management.

Now, after more than a decade under the management of San Bernardino County, the preserve is being turned into a park, with a 20 car parking lot, restroom, 10 buildings and kiosks, along with hiking and equestrian trails.

According to San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane, "North Etiwanda will become a destination" for residents throughout San Bernardino and Los Angeles.

Golden eagle on the North Etiwanda Preserve (Photo courtesy San Bernardino County Museum)

The Etiwanda Fan is located in the southwest corner of San Bernardino County in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and north of the City of Rancho Cucamonga. Although much of the fan has been altered by flood control practices, sand mining, and urban development, large areas of the Etiwanda Fan are minimally disturbed by human activities.

It is estimated that at least 75 percent of all coastal sage scrub habitats have been extirpated from Southern California and the Etiwanda Fan is one of three remaining expanses of alluvial fan sage scrub. In addition, the preserve and surrounding lands also contain other rare and threatened habitats such as sycamore alluvial woodland, California walnut woodland, and freshwater marsh.

Environmental groups, state and federal wildlife biologists now agree that the county supervisor's park and trails plan is not the way to protect and conserve the habitat and endangered species.

"It was a big mistake of the highway and wildlife agencies to let the county manage the preserve. It was like giving a known child molester a baby," said Leeona Klippstein, executive director of the Spirit of the Sage Council.

"There was no doubt in my mind that what the county is doing to the preserve was unlawful and a betrayal of public trust," said Tim Hermach, president of Native Forest Council.

"The San Bernardino National Forest is immediately adjacent to the North Etiwanda Preserve to the north," said Hermach. "It's just not the biological integrity of 763-acre Preserve that's affected by the habitat destruction. Many of the 247 known species we have identified depend on the preserve and adjacent lands."

Golden eagles, bobcats, mountain lions, mule deer and black bear come out of the two San Gabriel Mountain range canyons on the east and west borders of the preserve, to hunt and forage on the large alluvial fan.

Other species of plants and wildlife in the preserve have been listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, including three birds - the California gnatcatcher, Southwestern willow flycatcher, and the least Bell's vireo - the San Bernardino kangaroo rat, the red-legged frog and the mountain yellow legged frog.

Under the federal Endangered Species Act the unpermitted and malicious "take" of listed species and critical habitat is punishable with fines and imprisonment.

The conservation groups say Supervisor Biane and San Bernardino County do not have permits to "take" species protected under the Act and did not consult with the permitting agencies.

Said Klippstein, "Send Supervisor Paul Biane to jail? Absolutely! I can't wait."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.