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Rancho Mission Viejo Settlement Agreement
by Scott Thomas

Settlement Reached. As part of our commitment to protecting open spaces for birds and wildlife in Orange County, we have reached a settlement agreement with the Rancho Mission Viejo Company and the County of Orange. This long anticipated settlement will protect critical habitats and clean water in the south Orange County. Sea & Sage Audubon and Audubon California joined with the Sierra Club, Endangered Habitats League, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Laguna Greenbelt to help incorporate a permanent, functional reserve design. In doing so, we have helped to protect some of the most valuable open space remaining in Orange County, open space that is critical to many species of birds and other wildlife.

Scientists, and local naturalists, believe that habitats found in Southern Orange County are globally important hotspots in terms of endangered, threatened and rare species. Fragmentation that would have occurred under the original "Ranch Plan", approved in 2004, severely threatened these habitats. As a group, we presented Rancho Mission Viejo with a complicated, but scientifically based, alternative plan. Fortunately, they gave the proposal ample consideration and subsequently negotiated with us to reach a favorable compromise.

Of the 23,000 acres remaining today, the new plan will include about 17,000 acres to be preserved for wildlife and ranching. More importantly the additional acreage will greatly reduce fragmentation of the San Mateo Watershed. When combined with the existing Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy, this will create about 10,000 acres of largely unfragmented open space south of Ortega Highway. And, almost a mile of Chiquita Canyon, located on the north side of Ortega Highway, will be protected for CA Gnatcatchers.

Rancho Mission Viejo. The ranch is located in the southern end of the county; at almost 23,000 acres, it borders Caspers Park, Cleveland National Forest, and Camp Pendleton. Today what remains is essentially split in halves by Ortega Highway, between San Juan Capistrano and Caspers Park. The split almost uniformly divides the property into two major watersheds, San Juan and San Mateo. To the north San Juan Creek is joined by several creeks flowing from Gobernadora and Chiquita Canyons. Most of the property south of Ortega comprises the San Mateo Watershed, which includes numerous canyons and creeks that feed the San Mateo Creek. (We will have a map for you soon.)

San Mateo Watershed. Four major creeks, Cristianitos, La Paz, Gabino and Talega Creeks are located in the south/east quadrant. They all converge with the San Mateo Creek near the Orange County/ San Diego border. San Mateo Creek is a mostly pristine, undeveloped stream from its beginnings in Cleveland National Forest to its confluence with the Pacific Ocean at Trestles Beach. This is truly one of the last free flowing, unpolluted water ways of its kind in California. These four major creeks are important arroyo toad habitat. The Arroyo Toad is an endangered species that breeds along flat, rocky banks of unobstructed creeks, like those found in the Southern Orange County.

Many other important species such as Coast Horned Lizards, Mountain Lions, and Red Diamond Rattlesnakes, as well as rare plants rely on the unfragmented habitats in the San Mateo Watershed. Significant populations of raptor species, such as White-tailed Kites and Long-eared Owls, nest and winter here. And, the agreement will significantly improve the integrity of the Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy, by reducing development, traffic, and fragmentation on the conservancy’s eastern border.

Chiquita Canyon. Chiquita Canyon, in its entirety, is believed to be the most densely populated California Gnatcatcher habitat anywhere. Sea & Sage helped to permanently protect the upper reaches of Chiquita Canyon, north of Oso Parkway, more than a decade ago. Thanks to this new agreement much of middle Chiquita Canyon will be protected as well.

Ortega Highway and San Juan Creek. Under the plan, Ortega Highway will be realigned, moving it slightly north between San Juan Capistrano and Caspers Park, away from San Juan Creek. The realignment should present an opportunity to create new wildlife corridors. A realigned highway would likely result in bridges across Chiquita and Gobernadora Creeks. With the cooperation of Cal Trans and other authorities, old Ortega could be closed to allow wildlife movement north to south.

The new plan will also result in increased protection for Arroyo Toad habitat in San Juan Creek. And, any new communities that would impact water in San Juan Creek will be required to employ the best water protection practices available.

Win, Win. Although the settlement was complicated, in the end, all sides won a great deal of what they wanted. Thankfully, all the parties negotiated with integrity and kept their sights on our common goals. Open space reserves that are critical to wildlife populations, including birds you might see in a nearby park such as Caspers or the Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy, will be protected permanently.

Thanks. Many, many dedicated individuals worked very hard on this, for many years, including an incredible commitment from the Sierra Club and Audubon California. But a small group of people were responsible for finishing the job, and deserve a special thanks. Dan Silver of EHL, Joel Reynolds of NRDC, and Bill White of Shute, Mihaley and Weinberger, as well as Anthony Moiso and Richard Broming from Rancho Mission Viejo, and Supervisor Tom Wilson, all took on the difficult task of hammering away at the details and finalizing this agreement.

Last Modified July 8, 2007

Sea & Sage Audubon Society
PO Box 5447 • Irvine, CA 92616 • 949-261-7963
http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org