Over the past few decades, population growth has mushroomed in Orange County, as in the rest of Southern California, with the development of new communities and the infrastructure to support them.  This growth has come at the expense of natural habitats and species in an area recognized as part of a global hotspot of biodiversity.  The loss of habitat to development created a growing list of threatened and endangered species in Southern California, presenting challenges to federal, state, and local agencies responsible for natural resource protection, as well as to developers and land use planners trying to maintain a healthy economy.  To respond to this dilemma, in 1991 the California legislature passed the Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) Act to encourage a collaborative process for regional planning.  As a result of the NCCP, natural open space reserves have been set aside in the coastal and central portions of Orange County which, when combined with National Forest lands, total approximately 163,000 acres of conserved habitat—majestic peaks, chaparral and oak-studded canyons, rolling scrub- and grassland covered hills, and the remnants of formerly extensive coastal lagoons and estuaries—lands that not only contribute to the preservation of biodiversity, but to the quality of life enjoyed by all Southern Californians.  The legacy of this regional planning process continues, with the goal of protecting a green network of natural lands for wildlife habitat and open space recreation across jurisdictional boundaries in Southern California.

This report combines the results of two tasks funded under a local assistance grant from the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) for Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) wildlife corridor monitoring:  (1) the second consecutive year of monitoring for locations in the cities of Poway and San Diego, surveyed by San Diego State University (SDSU) graduate students (contract Task D) and (2) the first year of monitoring for new transect locations established by the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) and San Diego Tracking Team (SDTT) (contract Task A).  CBI directed both studies.  Transects at some of the Poway-San Diego monitoring stations established in 2000 (CBI 2002b) were not re-surveyed, while monitoring protocols were altered slightly based on recommendations from CBI (2002b).  Specifically, in addition to the data collected at baited track stations, the presence or absence of wildlife, as evidenced by all types of sign, was recorded along the entire length of the transect to compare the methods.  These sign surveys along the track station transects are thus similar to surveys conducted by the SDTT.

There is increasing interest in the effects of urbanization on natural systems. Among the variety of observed effects, urbanization has long been recognized as affecting hydrological characteristics of streams and rivers. Given the close coupling of stream hydrologic characteristics and riparian plant species ecology, we examined the effects of watershed urbanization on riparian vegetation communities via alterations in the hydrologic regime of a coastal southern California riparian system. These coastal river systems in southern California have received little attention in the literature.

It has been commonly reported that gray wolves (Canis lupus) as well as other predators like panthers (Felis concolor) and lynx (Lynx canadensis) once lived throughout the northeastern U.S. including what is today the Adirondack Park.  Extirpation of these summit predators closely followed European settlement (see Schneider 1997).  As a result of an active bounty system, the last wolf was believed to have been killed in Upstate New York during the mid 1890s.

In recent years, gray wolf recovery (both natural and human-directed) has been successful in a number of locations throughout North America — most successfully in the Upper Great Lakes region of the U.S. (see Fuller 1995).  A second population of gray wolves in the eastern U.S. outside the Minnesota population has been expressed as a goal for gray wolf recovery in the U.S. by federal agencies (see U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1992), and the Northeast has been identified as a potential region to support a viable population of wolves.  In addition to northern sections of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the AP has been identified as potentially supportive of gray wolves (see Mladenoff and Sickley 1998).

This study was by the Adirondack Park Citizens Action Committee organized by Defenders of Wildlife to examine the issue of gray wolf recovery in the Adirondack Park (from now on referred to as simply AP).  By combining what has been learned about wolf biology from numerous field studies with geographic information systems (GIS), we addressed the issue of gray wolf reintroduction feasibility in the AP.  In addition to developing wolf habitat suitability and connectivity models, we examined the important genetics questions pertinent to wolves in the AP.

The mission of the Volcan Mountain Preserve Foundation (VMPF) is conservation and stewardship of the majestic 15-mile long Volcan Mountains complex, situated within the Peninsular Ranges of Southern California (Figure 1).  The emphasis of VMPF is conserving natural habitats and the species they support, maintaining wilderness values and connections to adjacent open space, preserving archaeological sites, and encouraging natural history-based research and education.

Land conservation in the Volcan Mountains began in 1989; since that time, over 9,000 acres of the former Rutherford Ranch on Volcan Mountain have been acquired by public agencies and non-governmental organizations as protected open space, complemented by conservation of tens of thousands of acres of surrounding lands (Figure 2).  However, approximately 1,800 acres of Rutherford Ranch in the heart of the range, between these conserved lands and the Santa Ysabel Indian Reservation on the western flank of the mountain, lie unprotected and are currently threatened with development of estate lots.

VMPF requested that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) prepare a brief case statement that would provide the basis from which it can develop a focused conservation strategic plan.  This case statement describes the landscape that is the inspiration for the VMPF, with a focus on the privately held portions of Rutherford Ranch, by identifying regional conservation values and potential partners for conservation of these values within the context of existing opportunities.

The Sierra Nevada, John Muir’s Range of Light, is a state and national treasure, valued for its scenic beauty, rich biodiversity, ancient forests, unparalleled recreational opportunities, and commercial timber and water resources.  The Sierra Nevada supports over 60% of California’s vertebrate species and over half of its plant species.  For its size, it is the most floristically diverse area in North America.  The Sierra supports 50 million recreational visitor days each year, and its watersheds deliver 65% of the water supply for California residents.

The 270,750-acre Tejon Ranch is the largest contiguous tract of privately owned land in California. In addition to its outstanding core biological resource values, the Ranch represents a biogeographic crossroads of many Californias—the Sierra Nevada, the PacificCoast, the Mojave Desert, and the Great Central Valley. It represents the last intact connection among these ecoregions for numerous plants and animals that cannot cross water, intensive agriculture, or urban development. Unfortunately, it is also currently subject to development proposals that threaten to destroy the ecological integrity of this remarkable legacy.

Given the size, integrity, and geographic context of Tejon Ranch, and the regional significance of its resources, virtually all of Tejon Ranch merits protection for future generations.Therefore, we strongly urge a regional conservation solution for Tejon Ranch that is worthy of its irreplaceable resource values, cultural significance, and heritage of the citizens of California. It is in this spirit that we propose a wildland reserve design for the Ranch that captures the broad array of landscape functions and conservation values that it supports.

Bahía de San Quintín is the largest and only intact coastal lagoon system in the entire Mediterranean zone of North America. It is among the richest, most diverse, and most imperiled ecosystems on the planet, supporting dozens of species designated as Threatened or Endangered. Hidden in the fog on the windy Pacific Coast of Baja California, this sequestered spot is recognized worldwide for its biodiversity and its hemispheric importance to fisheries, waterfowl, migratory birds, and other coastal resources. The pristine condition of these ecosystems resembles that of Southern California more than 100 years ago, before their destruction and degradation due to population growth.

The survival of this remarkable landscape, however, is threatened by development pressures from a growing population and the thrust of tourism southward from the U.S. border. Like much of Baja California, the area does not have the infrastructure in place to support this growth or a complete recognition of its consequences on natural resources and the local economy. Sustainable use of the area’s rich natural resources is vital to continued agriculture and aquaculture operations, tourism, and community growth. This document presents a vision for addressing these conservation and socioeconomic challenges through new partnerships and an integrative approach to conservation and management of natural resources within a sustainable human community.

This document provides an introduction to the intersecting cultural and biological conservation values of Rancho Guejito—its cultural history, rare biological resources, its ecological functions within surrounding conserved areas, its significance to past, present, and future generations of Californians—and a plea for conservation of the irreplaceable values it supports, the loss of which cannot be mitigated elsewhere:

Western Oregon contains approximately 2.5 million acres of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) across six districts (Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg, Medford, and Lakeview): approximately 2.1 million acres of this is managed under the requirements of theO&C Lands Act of 1937 and other laws with the remainder (406,600 acres) managed as “public domain” lands (USDI BLM 2005).  All these lands are managed under the provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), with nearly a third (739,000 acres) designated as latesuccessional reserve (LSR). Each of the BLM districts completed Resource Management Plans (RMPs) in 1995 that incorporated land-use allocations and standards and guidelines pursuant to the NWFP.  However, a lawsuit filed by the American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) and others against the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior (i.e., Secretaries) alleged that the NWFP violated the terms of the O&C Act and numerous other laws. The Secretaries, AFRC, and the O&C counties agreed to settle this lawsuit in August of 2003, requiring BLM to revise its RMPs and consider at least one alternative that will not create (i.e., eliminate) any reserves on O&C lands except as needed to avoid jeopardy to species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Consequently,the BLM is now conducting scoping for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to revise its RMPs that will determine how the agency should manage the O&C lands to achieve the O&C Act requirements of permanent foreproduction, sustained yield, community economic stability, and watershed protection (as interpreted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) while complying with applicable laws such as the ESA and the Clean Water Act.  Here, we provide BLM with a scientific foundation for managing its lands to meet the ecological objectives of the NWFP, ESA, and Clean Water Act by: (1) demonstrating the importance of the reserve network within the context of the NWFP and more specifically within western Oregon BLM lands (both O&C and public domain lands); (2) evaluating potential consequences of eliminating or reducing protections for LSRs and Riparian Reserves under consideration by the BLM; (3) highlighting potential cumulative impacts from adjoining Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) on State and private lands; and (4) raising significant issues for BLM to consider in RMP revisions, particularly alternatives to the elimination of reserves.