Media reports covered EHL’s initiative on fire safety and turned to EHL for comment on reserve assembly in Riverside and Orange Counties.

On Nov. 21, 2006 (“Supervisor, group urge changes in land use”), the Riverside Press Enterprise reported on Supervisor Bob Buster’s proposal to form a task force to look at housing development in brush areas at high fire risk, in response to a letter from EHL. The article described an EHL critique of current practices and quoted Executive Director Dan Silver on the need for prevention in order to save lives: “It's obvious these firefighters use their best practices. Despite that, they continue to get killed.”

Shortly thereafter, on Nov. 30, 2006, the Press Enterprise covered a US Forest Service audit that called for local governments to shoulder more of the enormous cost of fighting fires to protect poorly planned development. “We should do everything we can to make local governments more responsible,” Silver said. “It's their decision to create this risk and to create these costs. Therefore, they should bear consequences of those bad decisions, which they don't today.”

The Los Angeles Times published a letter to the editor (“Learning from the fire,” Oct. 31, 2006) from Dan Silver: “The tragic deaths of brave firefighters raise tough questions for elected officials. At the local level, why are virtually indefensible, widely scattered homes allowed to be built in remote, high fire hazard areas?. . . At the state level, why is the public forced to subsidize fire insurance for these units through the so-called FAIR plan? Common sense and accountability have long been abandoned when it comes to fires in Southern California.”

On November 27, 2006 (“Keeping wildlife in urban areas”), the Orange County Register reported on a well-attended conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Nature Reserve of Orange County, which EHL was involved in founding via State of California Natural Community Conservation Planning. Dan Silver, of EHL, was quoted, saying, “When we started it was a big risk to actually sit down and collaborate with the Irvine Co. and the County of Orange . . . But the sense I had was that, whatever we were doing so far wasn't working. It was worth taking the risk.”

The Riverside Press Enterprise ran an in-depth story that stressed problems faced by the Riverside County Multiple Species Conservation Plan at its inception in 2003 (“Losing Ground,” Dec. 8, 2006). EHL provided some necessary balance on the plan’s accomplishments in acquiring large blocks of habitat: “They are on track in putting together the big pieces,” Silver said. “The fact that this plan exists is a miracle. To not have this plan, it would be like a descent into hell.”

The San Diego Daily Transcript (“Wetlands the focus of county's controversial revised resource ordinance,” Nov. 30, 2006) covered a proposed revision of the San Diego County Resource Protection Ordinance and quoted an EHL comment letter on some types of “artificial” wetlands in a highly altered environment: “Such wetlands can be highly valuable," the EHL wrote in September. "Wetlands created from the runoff of agricultural fields can provide nesting habitat for the sensitive tri-colored blackbird. Similarly, 'artificial' wetlands resulting from highly treated effluent from sewage treatment -- the Salton Sea and the Los Angeles River are prime examples -- can assume statewide and even international significance as habitat for a broad suite of migratory waterfowl.”

Articles also covered the issuance by the US Fish and Wildlife Service of permits for the Orange County Southern Subregion Habitat Conservation Plan, which includes the Rancho Mission Viejo.  In the Los Angeles Times of January 12, 2007 (“Major piece of O.C. land set aside as nature reserve”), Silver was quoted saying, "We feel it's a strong conservation plan that preserves the biological integrity of the ranch, which is one of the most important environmental places in Southern California." Referencing the nearly 75% conservation of the Rancho, he said, "The ranch is able to build the same number of housing units, though more clustered, and they use the land more efficiently, creating a win-win solution."

In the January 15, 2007 edition of the Orange County Register (“Nature reserve is built on compromise”), the history of the NCCP and its conflict-resolution potential were featured.  EHL’s Silver was quoted on reduced litigation: "I think we've avoided dozens or who knows how many lawsuits."

On January 12, 2007, Silver was a guest on KPCC-FM’s Larry Mantle Show. The topic was endangered species, habitat conservation plans, and land use planning.