🚀 go-pugleaf

Issued by Endangered Habitats League and National Audubon Society

 Southern California is the epicenter of extinction in the continental 
United States.  The coastal sage scrub ecosystem has been decimated by 
uncontrolled sprawl and greed, and only the listing of the California 
gnatcatcher has given it a chance of survival.  

 The vehicle for conservation has become an experimental program called
Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP).  It is supposed to show 
the nation a new way to conserve whole habitats.  Yet in the Orange 
County Southern Subregion, it is heading for a debacle.  A beautiful 
place called Chiquita Canyon is a unique, intact remnant of the coastal 
sage scrub ecosystem, and its superb quality habitat home to perhaps the 
world's highest concentration of gnatcatchers.  Yet, in violation of the 
NCCP-mandated, scientific principles of reserve design, the state and 
federal wildlife agencies are on the verge of capitulating to the 
developer and allowing a golf course and county club to be introduced 
into the heart of the canyon.
 
Such fragmentation would belie the promises the NCCP made to the
conservation community.  Worse yet, assurances would be given to the
developer that dozens of other species which live in Chiquita Canyon 
would never receive protection in the future under the Endangered 
Species Act!

 This decision will be made by mid-December.  Please write or fax two 
key people as soon as possible.  You may make use of the sample letter 
below, which contains addresses.  

Fax for Mr. Spear is 503-872-2716.  
Fax for Mr. Mantell is 916-653-8102.  

******If you only have time for one letter, Mr. Spear is the top 
priority.  Time is of the essence.

 Please also flood their offices with calls and leave a simple message: 
"Save the NCCP!  Save Chiquita Canyon!  STOP the "Natural Community GOLF 
Plan."
 
********Telephone for Mr. Spear is 503-231-6118.  
Telephone for Mr. Mantell is 916-653-5656.  

 There is so little land left untouched, and it is so difficult to save.
 Chiquita Canyon must not be lost .  Thank you for taking the time to 
act on this truly urgent matter.

********************************************************************
 For more information, contact Dan Silver at 213-654-1456 (E-mail
ehlsilver@aol.com) or Pete DeSimone at 714-858-0309 (E-mail
pdesimone@audubon.org).
********************************************************************

******************SAMPLE
LETTER*******************************************************

Dec.   , 1995


Michael Spear, Regional Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
911 N.E. 11th Ave.
Portland, OR  97232-4181

Michael Mantell, Undersecretary
California Resources Agency
1416 Ninth St., Room 1311
Sacramento, CA  95814

RE:  Orange County Southern Subregion Natural Community Conservation 
Plan (NCCP)

Dear Mr. Spear and Mr. Mantell:

 I wish to express my hopes and concerns over the Orange County Southern
Subregion NCCP.  I particularly want  you to know my unalterable 
opposition to development of any sort - including golf - in upper 
Chiquita Canyon.  

 The NCCP has great promise, but it will fail if key resources are not
protected.  Chiquita Canyon is a pinnacle of the coastal sage scrub
ecosystem; it must be preserved intact.  To introduce a golf course into 
its heart would flagrantly violate the NCCP principles of scientific 
reserve design, and as a result, this much-heralded program would be 
permanently discredited in the eyes of the public.  Also, prelisting 
assurances under the Endangered Species Act for multiple species could 
not be justified with this type of habitat fragmentation.

 I support the goals of the NCCP.  Please do not throw away this 
program's promise by turning it into a Natural Community GOLF Plan.  

Thank you.


Sincerely,