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2011
Season
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CONSERVATION
NEWS
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Rancho Mission Viejo Settlement
Agreement
by Scott Thomas
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.) |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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