Federally protected wildlife on SM property

By: BEN FRUMIN - Staff Writer | Friday, February 25, 2005 12:03 AM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- One of the most environmentally sensitive properties in San Diego County is crowded between Restaurant Row and the roar of Highway 78 in west San Marcos, a rare-plant expert said Thursday.

The rectangular, 33-acre parcel ---- bordered by Las Posas Road, Linda Vista Drive, Pacific Street and La Mirada Drive ---- is home to at least four federally protected plant and animal species ---- San Diego fairy shrimp, thread-leaved brodiaea, spreading navarretia and San Diego thornmint, said Fred Roberts, the California Native Plant Society's rare-plant coordinator for the county.

Because of that wildlife, a number of government agencies have put restrictions on the property's development.

The parcel's owner said Thursday that while rare species may indeed call his land home, environmentalists and government agencies are denying his rights by preventing the site, zoned for light industry, from being developed.

"The environmental constraints on this property, to me, they've been quite excessive," said landowner Chester R. Upham, Jr., a 79-year-old Texan who runs a family business that makes oil and gas wells and supplies energy to pipeline companies.

Idle land

Upham said he bought the land more than 40 years ago for less than $100,000. The Texan said he's been trying to sell it for two decades, but that he loses the interest of potential buyers when he tells them about the site's environmental roadblocks.

"This guy's gotta be sitting on a gold mine," said Jeff Hornsby, who manages a transmission parts store across the street from Upham's land.

Upham recently sold for an undisclosed sum another 33-acre parcel on the east side of Las Posas, where a planned 325,000-square-foot shopping center is expected to open in May 2006, in conjunction with an in-progress highway interchange at Las Posas Road.

That interchange will turn Las Posas into a prime place for a commercial corridor, Councilman Hal Martin said, adding that it doesn't make sense to preserve the 33-acre parcel west of the soon-to-be busy street.

"To me, it's swamp," Martin said. The land would be perfect for a mixed-use project including commercial and residential space, he said.

Upham said he envisions a commercial shopping center on the site.

"There's a lot of things that could happen there, but we have to get through the environmental hurdles," Martin said.

The councilman said cities should pool funds to buy and preserve thousands of contiguous acres in every county, instead of trying to maintain islands of natural habitat in industrial and commercial centers.

"In the middle of a built-up area, it seems ridiculous to me to try to keep it in its natural state, because it will never be that way," Martin said.

Environmental preserve

Roberts, the rare-plant coordinator, has a different take. He said it's important to preserve the natural habitat of rare wildlife to discover as-yet unknown benefits that plants might yield and because one species' extinction could have widespread ramifications up and down the food chain. Also, he said, preservation of natural habitat is important for the simple visual enjoyment that many people get from spending time outdoors.

"(We should) protect the heritage of California for future generations to take a look at," Roberts said.

Native wildlife is in full bloom on the Upham property and several vernal pools have formed in an area where flat terrain and heavy soil prevent water from soaking into the ground, Roberts said. The pools, just a few inches deep, range in surface area from a few square feet to several square yards.

A number of water-dwelling plants sprout up from the bottom of the pools, which they share with rare, tiny shrimp that hatch in the pools after eggs are carried there by shore birds, Roberts said.

"It makes a very unique little wetland habitat," he said.

Fairy shrimp live in vernal pools in about 15 to 20 places throughout the county, Roberts said, adding that as many as 10,000 shrimp can live in a single pool.

"It may sound like a lot, but one little accident and the pool is lost," he said.

The Upham property also boasts on its small, rolling hills some of the highest densities in the nation of the lilylike, flowering brodiaea, Roberts said.

The plant expert estimated that 50,000 to 350,000 federally threatened, thread-leaved brodiaea call the Upham property home, along with a couple of million Orcutt's brodiaea.

"That may seem like a lot compared to a number of people," Roberts said, "but to plants, it's not."

Roberts estimated that San Marcos was covered with tens of millions of brodiaea around 1940, and noted that massive development has landed some brodiaea species on federal protection lists.

Moving forward

Before the Upham property can be developed, a number of environmental studies and reports would have to analyze what rare wildlife lives on-site, and what the developer would do to negate or minimize impacts to plants and animals there, officials said.

One option utilized by developers is to relocate rare wildlife to other sites. Roberts said that usually results in an inferior habitat where the lifespan of plants and their descendants is shortened.

Upham said he has offered to relocate some of the plants on his property, but that public agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, have balked at that proposal.

Fed up with his inability to sell or develop his property, Upham said he hasn't ruled out suing the government to defend his property rights.

"Is it my duty to go through the long and tortuous legal battle in order to have the fair use of my property?" he asked.

Contact staff writer Ben Frumin at (760) 761-4408 or bfrumin@nctimes.com.

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