May 8, 2007 Foothills Sentry Page 9
County considers outsourcing open space stewardship
By Tina Richards
Just 30 days after the Irvine Company’s land trust relieved The Nature Conservancy of management responsibility for the 11,000-acre Irvine Ranch Land Reserve, the Orange County Board of Supervisors unveiled a plan to entrust all county open space and natural lands to a private land manager.
The land manager most likely to be awarded the contract is the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust (IRLRT). Although barely two years old, the trust has positioned itself as an experienced steward of natural and protected open space. “We’re a young organization,” says IRLRT director Mike O’Connell, “but our people have years of experience. Most of us have been involved in land conservation for 20 years or more.”
While the Board of Supervisor’s plan to outsource regional open space does not specifically name the Irvine Land Trust, observers note that the outcome is already clear. An Irvine Company proposal to partner with the county and manage the public’s open space surfaced last Fall. A map on the IRLRT website showing the Trust’s sphere of influence includes every wilderness and regional park in Orange County – from Upper Newport Bay to Talbert Preserve to Irvine Park and Peter’s Canyon.
“They are all there, says Mike O’Connell, because “we care about that land. We’re not managing it now, or even plan to manage it. We recognize that it needs to be managed and we support whatever agency is doing that.”
Strategic Plan to Study Parks
Right now the county manages the public’s wilderness parks, nature preserves and coastal estuaries via its Harbors, Beaches and Parks (HBP) department. County officials have been reviewing HBP based on a 2005 Grand Jury recommendation that the agency be given full funding, that it be separated from the Resources Development Management Department (RDMD), and that the county produce a strategic plan mapping the goals, vision and reach of the park system.
Outsourcing natural lands to a private land manager is the county’s twist on the strategic plan. RDMD Director Bryan Speegle wants to restrict HBP’s scope to “recreational” areas and give habitat management and open space to “partners.” RDMD, not HBP, would oversee those partnerships.
RDMD’s primary focus is planning and development, not parks or open space. It is the same organization that spearheaded the Irvine Company’s efforts to put an urban runoff facility in Irvine Park. It has allowed other developers to renege on promises to include trail connections; graze cattle and build golf courses on designated open space.
“This is putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” says Friends of Harbors Beaches and Parks’ Manny Keisser. “Speegle completely reverses a year’s worth of public input and a Grand Jury report that called for HPB to protect OC’s endangered open spaces. Speegle claims that ‘RDMD has been the lead in coordinating habitat planning,’ but only because he silenced HBP’s voice and the Board of Supervisors looted HBP funding.”
The core question, Keisser notes, is “do the people of Orange County want a land developer managing their natural assets?”
A Shift in Focus
Until recently, the Irvine Land Reserve was managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Its contract was expected to run until 2012, but IRLRT assumed control April 1. “One of the first things they did,” says former TNC Public Programs Coordinator Mike Kahle, “was choose to ignore 16 years’ worth of scientific research on habitats, endangered species, nesting areas. IRLRT claims the data is unusable. I think they want a new baseline that suits the needs of the Irvine Company, not wildlife or protected areas.
“We are dedicated to building upon the work of TNC,” counters Mike O’Connell. “We are committed to maintaining resources. At the same time, we want to connect people to the land, make them appreciate and support it.”
“The Irvine land trust seems to confuse the difference between a reserve and a public park,” Kahle asserts. “In the past, public outreach programs were focused on interpretation geared around conservation, letting people know why nesting areas were closed, why wildlife needs space. IRLRT has downplayed the interpretive aspects of those programs and has developed recreational uses that are less concerned with habitat.”
“We have to work with people who want access,” O’Connell notes, “but we have to keep access compatible with the long term protection of resources. We’re not about restricting access, but we’re not about throwing open the gates and saying ‘have at it.’”
A Long and Winding Road
Whether one believes IRLRT is an appropriate land steward or not, whether outsourcing is a good idea or not; the debate is rooted in decisions made by OC officials a decade ago.
Following the 1994 bankruptcy, taxpayer funding for HBP was diverted to other county departments. When Irvine Company CEO Donald Bren offered 11,000 acres as permanent open space in 1995, the county wouldn’t take it. An already weakened parks department couldn’t afford to accept the gift.
The Irvine Company created its land trust to do what the county could have done: manage its undeveloped open space. The trust is housed in Irvine Company offices; its website bears the Irvine Company logo. Donald Bren sits on its board of directors. Now the developer can parlay its conservation subsidiary into a profit center, getting taxpayer dollars to do what a healthy parks department could do: manage the public’s land.
Taken from The Foothills Sentry http://www.foothillssentry.com/