Settlement Stops Plan to Develop Wildlife Preserve

As a result of a legal settlement between the Center for Biological
Diversity, the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, a 1,100-acre wildlife preserve in western
Riverside County will once again be protected from industrial
development. The settlement resolves a dispute surrounding the approval
for large-scale development on the March Stephens' Kangaroo Rat Preserve - home to
numerous imperiled species, including the endangered Stephens' kangaroo
rat. Not only will the land be returned to the preserve, but under the
terms of the settlement agreement, any future proposals to release the
area for development must undergo strict environmental review.

"This land was dedicated for permanent conservation to
balance the previous destruction of endangered wildlife," said Jonathan
Evans of the Center for Biological Diversity. "We owe it to future
generations to uphold past promises to protect this land and stop
paving over wildlife preserves."

The March Preserve was originally established in 1991 as
a permanent preserve to offset impacts to wildlife from the expansion
of Highway 215; it was later expanded as further mitigation for
development on March Air Force Base. It has also been dedicated as part
of the larger Sycamore Canyon-March Core Reserve that was established
as part of the Stephens' Kangaroo Rat Habitat Conservation Plan. In
addition to the endangered kangaroo rat, the more than 1,100-acre
preserve is home to a range of other imperiled wildlife species, such as
the burrowing owl, the least Bell's vireo, and the southwestern willow flycatcher.

Government
documents uncovered by the Center for Biological Diversity
revealed that wildlife officials recognized that the March Preserve is
"critical to the establishment of a viable, long-term [Stephens'
kangaroo rat] reserve system in western Riverside County," and that if
it were to be removed, there would no longer be "assurance of the
survival and recovery" of the Stephens' kangaroo rat. Nonetheless, in
2006 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened the area to commercial
and industrial development in exchange for the protection of lands in
the Portrero valley, some 25 miles away.

"This land swap was a net loser for wildlife in southern
California," said Drew Feldman, vice president of the San Bernardino
Valley Audubon Society. "Eliminating the supposedly permanent March
preserve threatened an entire system of nature reserves throughout
Riverside County and threatened the future of wildlife that call the
March Preserve home."

Although other lands have been proposed for protection
in the Portrero valley, the unequal trade would ultimately cause more
harm than good, destroying essential wildlife habitat and linkages,
encouraging neighboring industrial development, and ultimately
threatening the integrity of a network of Riverside County wildlife
preserves.

Despite the protection afforded the March Preserve as a
result of this settlement, several neighboring warehouse projects in
the city of Riverside and county of Riverside threaten wildlife and
adjacent preserve areas. Combined, the city and county warehouse
projects threaten to sever the March Preserve's connection to the
Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park and permanently isolate both refuges.
The Center and San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society have filed suit
against the City of Riverside over one of these developments and are
considering a similar suit against the County over the other.