Developer’s Actions Involving Rare Flower Probed

State Fish and Game Department officers are investigating whether developers destroyed habitats in north Los Angeles County where an endangered flower may have grown, according to court documents.

In a search warrant affidavit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week, Fish and Game Lt. Penelope Liotta said she believed Newhall Land & Farming Co. was growing agave plants on the site of a planned subdivision “as a ruse to justify the systematic destruction of habitat” that may contain the San Fernando Valley spineflower.

Liotta said she believed Newhall Land used other means to destroy possible habitats on the property in the Santa Clarita Valley and only recently put up barriers to protect the spineflowers that were found there two years ago.

The affidavit said the land would be searched for evidence.

Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano said Thursday that officials searched the 12,000-acre site several days last week. He declined further comment because the investigation is ongoing.

Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer could not be reached late Thursday. In an interview last week, she said the company had not destroyed the land where the spineflower was found in 2000.

The spineflower was believed extinct until found in 1999 at the planned 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch in southeast Ventura County. A recent Fish and Game report said the Ahmanson developers’ plan to protect the flower does not meet state requirements.

The planned 22,000-home Newhall Ranch project was initially approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in late 1998, but environmental groups and others challenged the action in court.