	Volume 14 - No.3 - Summer 2004

The Endangered Habitats League is dedicated to the protection of the diverse ecosystems of Southern California and to sensitive and sustainable land use for the benefit of all the region’s inhabitants. The EHL Newsletter is published quarterly to chronicle our plans, activities, and successes.

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EHL in the News

On June 15, 2004, immediately prior to a critical vote on the San Diego County General Plan “2020 Update,” the San Diego Union-Tribune published an opinion piece authored by EHL Executive Director Dan Silver calling for environmentally sound supervisorial leadership on land use. Click here to read the op-ed.

After the vote on the “2020 Update,” the Union-Tribune’s June 17, 2004 edition quoted Silver’s reaction to one of the land use maps moved forward for analysis: “The map is a balanced compromise that would allow the process to move forward and the stakeholders to continue to work together,” he said.

EHL was also quoted in other newspaper stories across the region. In the June 12, 2004 Orange County Register, Dan Silver pointed out the fatal flaw in the proposed Rancho Mission Viejo development: “One of our biggest concerns is habitat fragmentation,” he said. “We'd like to see more focused development, rather than scattered.”

In the June 22, 2004 Los Angeles Times, EHL reacted to an adverse judicial decision on the Saddle Crest/Saddle Creek development: “If we don't preserve Orange County's wildlife now, well, we don't get a second chance,” said Dan Silver, the agency's executive director.

In the wake of formal signing of permits for the Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) that will conserve 153,000 acres of new private land, Silver described the benefits for the public-at-large in the June 23, 2003 edition of the Los Angeles Times: “What this means to the public is that there’s going to be beautiful, natural open space in Riverside County, and that will keep Riverside different than, say, L.A. County.”

The July 2004 Planning Report (“The Insider’s Guide to Managed Growth” at planningreport.com) featured an extensive interview with Dan Silver on the Riverside County MSHCP and the state of “smart growth” in California. According to Silver, developers are “cherry picking” the smart growth package, and the most environmentally damaging problem -“rural residential” sprawl at the urban fringe - is not being addressed.