In 2001, a portion of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County was turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration on the condition that a federal habitat reserve would be established and no new development would be allowed on the property. The proposed reserve, the El Toro National Wildlife Refuge, represents a unique California ecosystem and would be home to the highest regional concentrations of the threatened coastal California gnatcatcher and coastal cactus wren.

Under the agreement, certain existing uses of the property, including a small FBI pistol range, are allowed to continue. But the FBI is ignoring the agreement not to develop beyond the current training facilities by seeking to expand the size of the firing range. The expansion would threaten nearly 1,000 acres of endangered species habitat and public space within the proposed refuge. Expanding the rifle range facilities would present terrible safety hazards to both humans and wildlife.

The FBI and the FAA are nevertheless proceeding with development plans for the new rifle range as if all prior agreements and the conditions of transfer did not exist. To add insult to injury, plans are also underway to develop a state-of-the-art rifle range at the nearby Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base, which effectively renders the proposed El Toro facility redundant and wasteful of taxpayer dollars.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments on the proposed El Toro reserve and development plan through June 30th.

What to do:
Send a message, before the June 30th comment deadline, urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to support the creation of the refuge and oppose the FBI's rifle range.

Source: the National Resource Defense Council