Rancho Mission Viejo

traveling northup antonio parkway from san juan capistrano you can see a slew of new housing developments planned and gated communities with lush landscaping you're also likely to see red tailed hawks or perhaps a white tailed plight that's because next door lies thousands of acres of open space most of it owned by rancho mission va whole the oldest existing cattle ranch in orange county to many people like dan silver of the endangered habitats lead the ranch is an ecological treasure this area is extremely rich and right perry areas repairing his strange side habitat and owls hawks eagles falcons are doing very very well on this property because it's all intact it has this full range of grasslands and another habitats of the birds need for fortune silver says the ranch provides important habitat for seven animals that are listed as threatened or endangered cities at the ottawa and star ryan sanctuary you're the northeastern corner of rancho mission be a whole sanctuary manager pete de simone is listening for

native birds wind down there's a spotted toed murray he's making that sound in hopes of eliciting a response from a pair of threats and californian that captures the simone says the birds live and one of southern california's rare plant communities called coastal sage grouse most people identify course a safe go with this californian that character and it is an ob gyn resident of course it's gone you don't have cost a surge will be an eye captures de simone says perhaps as many as a coup quarter of all california gnatcatcher is live on neighboring ranch omission be a hoe he says the ranch is also rich in other ecosystems like native grasslands chaparral and oak woodlands rancho mission va home is owned by the o'neal family last summer the family unveiled plans to

build fourteen thousand homes and five million square feet of commercial property on the ranch the plan also set aside nearly two thirds of the twenty three thousand acre site as open space for nature preserves ranching and farming diane gaynor is the family spokeswoman they at allocating three inch land for development they procured on the level of violence and violent mean what can we do better to have their meat of nature with all the native man gainer says to help me orange county's housing shortage the family has carefully identified places where development makes sense fritz henderson va they have an incorrect perception of being a pristine wilderness area isn't far from that regime is unclear who had been an intern twenty years everything from sand and gravel extraction off of first lunar module three catholic year and the vast

majority of any area of identified for development of it i was beat de simone says diener is underestimating the ecological value at the ranch there is clearly pristine habitat on that ranch there are deftly areas that are undisturbed that the cattle didn't even get into there and really unbelievable historical excellent shape and other than that a large portion of war remains out there he may not be pristine but it's it's the best we have out here and the more we take care of it the better of care dan silver of the endangered habitats league agrees he says the ranch's current plan would destroy or fragment a substantial amount of core habitat including forging grounds for orange county's only pair of golden eagles he says state and federal wildlife agencies are working on a special agreement that would create a better plan there is a program called natural community conservation plan which could protect the species it

could be a vehicle for win win solution a natural communities conservation plan or an ccp allows a landowner to destroy some endangered plants and animals in exchange for setting aside land for preservation the ranch's diane gainer says the o'neal family is participating in and committed to the end ccp process she also believes it can help a protracted legal fight between environmentalists and the landowners state wildlife officials say if all goes well they should have a plan for reserve areas and other conservation measures for rancho mission va ho within the next two years for kpcc news i'm elsa says he'll at the audubon sanctuary in south orange county