ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Watch Out for Ruffled Feathers

A small bird, the California gnatcatcher, is ruffling feathers in Orange County these days.

In a recent letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gaddi H. Vasquez, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, stopped just short of asking that the gnatcatcher not be added to the list of endangered species, a legal step now being considered. He said that such designation “could have wide-ranging impacts to major public works projects now being planned and undergoing environmental review in Orange County.”

Keep in mind that Vasquez wears a second hat as member of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency, which is proposing a tollway that would cut through coastal sage scrub inhabited by the bird. But he was using his Board of Supervisors chair to let Washington know just how much the county had done to set aside open space for wildlife.

Separately, at the same time, the county building industry was taking its own more direct aim at the gnatcatcher. The Building Industry Assn. of Orange County reported in a newsletter, the Greensheet, that the debate over the bird threatens the economy of Southern California and urged that the Endangered Species Act be reconsidered. “The gnatcatcher is a small gray bird. . . . It appears to be quite harmless--but appearances can be deceiving,” it wrote.

While the two positions were quite different, the view from government and the view from industry were remarkably similar on one important point: the gnatcatcher as a kind of nuisance--an obstacle to growth.

While it is understandable that the building industry would take the position it did, Vasquez has more to think about than merely being an unabashed advocate for a new tollway. The board he chairs has the last word on planning in Orange County, and part of its charge is to select planning commissioners and review projects. In a very real sense, it is a court of last resort.

It is important to remember, too, that the jury is still out on the gnatcatcher; a report is expected from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September. It would have been much more appropriate for Vasquez to keep some distance on this issue in order to strengthen the future credibility of the planning process.

The builders correctly identified the powerful symbolism inherent in the gnatcatcher debate, comparing it to the spotted owl controversy in the Pacific Northwest.

All the more reason for Vasquez to refrain from a rush to judgment on the issue.