THE 400-ACRE WILDLIFE CORRIDOR & NATIVE AMERICAN VILLAGE SITE BETWEEN IRVINE PARK & PETERS CANYON ARE GETTING DESTROYED. WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH OUR CEQA LAWSUIT, SPREADING THE WORD & PROTESTING!!!
IRVINE CO. STARTED HABITAT REMOVAL RIGHT BEFORE HOLIDAY BREAK: (follow link to videos) On Monday, we were surprised to see The Irvine Co. removing wildlife habitat (above ground vegetation) with tractors pulling mowers and hand crews with machetes and landscape equipment on the northwest corner of the 400 acres, adjacent to Irvine Park. They cleared approx. 35 acres of coastal sage scrub and grassland. This area supported white-tailed kite, coastal CA gnatcatcher, grasshopper sparrow, western meadow lark, northern harrier, Belding's orange throated whiptail and countless other resident and migratory species. On Wednesday, they cleared another approx. 30-40 acres on the southwest end along Jamboree at the Tustin Border. White sage, sagebrush and other coastal sage scrub species were bulldozed from an entire hill! After calling Steve Gibson, senior environmental scientist with CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW), we learned that CDFW quietly approved The Irvine Co.'s incidental take permit (ITP) for the Crotch's bumble bee last Friday without communicating to the public. We are shocked and dismayed by the lack of transparency of CDFW. For the past few months, they did not respond to our emails, calls or requests to be included in this discretionary CA Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.
LEGAL ACTION: Winter King, our attorney with Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger, is in the process of filing a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and lawsuit challenging the ITP on the grounds that CDFW violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by issuing the permit without and subsequent or supplemental environmental review. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
DONATE: We've already raised close to $30,000, but we need $50,000. Please follow DONATE link to contribute to our legal fund.
CONTACT CA DEPT OF FISH & WILDLIFE (CDFW): Call and email CDFW and tell them the destruction of the wildlife habitat, including coastal sage scrub and grassland, on the Orange Heights/Santiago Hills Project is threatening special status species, including Crotch's bumble bee, least Bell's vireo and mt. lion, which is a violation of the CA Endangered Species Act. Demand a subsequent or supplemental environmental review for Orange Heights/Santiago Hills II.
Jennifer Turner
Senior Environmental Scientist (Supervisor)
Mobile: (858) 539-9109
Jennifer.Turner@wildlife.ca.gov
Steve Gibson
Senior Environmental Scientist (Supervisor)
Mobile: (562) 252-2362
Steve.Gibson@wildlife.ca.gov
Julisa Portugal
Environmental Scientist
Mobile: (562) 330-7563
Julisa.Portugal@Wildlife.ca.gov
PROTEST RALLY: Confirmed for Friday, 3PM at intersection of Jamboree Rd and E Chapman Ave. Parking at Albertsons. Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YyyQd4ZfvqRE9e3Q6
WINTER SOLSTICE HIKE @ PETERS CANYON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 10:30AM: Celebrate the winter solstice on an easy to moderate hike in Peters Canyon Regional Park with No Orange Heights. Meet in parking lot of Peters Canyon North Trailhead, 8548 Canyon View Ave, Orange, CA 92869. PARKING FEE: $3
PREHISTORIC VILLAGE THREATENED: The Irvine Co. plans is to excavate CA-ORA-556, the prehistoric Native American village site that qualities for the CA Register of Historic Resources. All of the recovered artifacts were of stone dated to the Late Millingstone Horizon, over 3500 years ago. It was described as an extensive lithic scatter consisting of metates, manos, cores, flakes, projectiles, and a bifacial knife. The original recorder reported that a “possible cemetery” was “likely” located approximately 100 meters east of the site. “It is estimated that 90% of archaeological sites in Orange County have been destroyed to make way for development. This makes the remaining archaeological sites of utmost importance as they are the only tangible remains of ca. 10,000 years of Juaneño/Acjachemen and Gabrielino/Tongva history." Pat Martz, Emerita Professor of Anthropology College of Natural and Social Sciences & President of California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance
Barefoot Joel Robinson
No Orange Heights (NOH)
714-798-4392 (text/voice from my laptop)
714-639-8480 (landline)
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