In Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, two of the three remaining populations of this highly endangered animal are threatened by development.

Living in and adjacent to active floodplains and washes, the San Bernardino kangaroo rat (SBRK) was emergency listed under the ESA in 1998 following an estimated 95% decline in population from historic levels. Only three important populations remain: along the Santa Ana Wash near Redlands, the San Jacinto River near Hemet, and the Lytle Creek and Cajon Creek confluence area near Rialto. The SBKR needs a natural flood regime to support pioneer and intermediate stage vegetation, as well as mature upland refugia to allow repopulation after heavy floods.

This year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service approved 35 acres of groundwater recharge basins in the San Jacinto Wash in occupied SBKR habitat. This action violated the Service’s commitments under Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, which considers the land protected. While the Service claims the habitat is of low quality, this determination does not comport with the assessment of SBKR experts. The combined effects of other projects were not considered, and the mitigation offered – management of other lands – does not compensate for the loss.

To compound matters, on July 28, 2008, the City of Rialto approved a massive 8400-unit development that would permanently destroy about 150 acres of occupied SBKR habitat and put miles of levees in Lytle Creek. The hydrology of previously conserved SBKR habitat and planned mitigation areas downstream would be jeopardized. EHL submitted extensive comments on the project’s draft environmental impact report. Consistent with a previous legal settlement agreement, EHL does not oppose “Neighborhood I,” a part of the project that would not harm the SBKR, nor urge others to do so.

EHL is carefully assessing what we can do about these threats, which may well lead to the extinction of this animal.