That range, within 4 miles of the coast, also happens to be one of the most heavily developed regions of the country. No other colonies remain across the mouse’s historic range from the El Segundo dunes near LAX to the Mexican border. The Dana Point mouse population was preserved, and subsequent surveys found two other groups at Camp Pendleton. It was added to the federal endangered species list the following year as part of an emergency ruling. Thought to be extinct in the 1980s, the Pacific pocket mouse was rediscovered in 1993 by the developer of the Strand at the Dana Point Headlands. “The large land reserves allowed this reintroduction of the pocket mouse to happen.” Fish and Wildlife biologist for Orange County. “You really need to conserve large expanses of open space to preserve ecological processes,” said Will Miller, a U.S. Those might meet the letter of the legal requirement to avoid harming endangered species, but they often can’t support complex and intricately linked ecosystems of animals and plants on which those endangered species depend for their survival. If such large conservation areas aren’t secured, researchers say, only small, scattered habitats tend to be preserved.
“Instead of everybody fighting, you agree on where you’re going to develop and where you’re going to preserve, and then concentrate on those really rich areas to keep viable and sustainable,” said Barbara Norton, OC Parks’ supervising park ranger for Laguna Coast. The effort faced criticism from die-hard environmentalists but became a model for large conservation projects statewide. The release of the mouse delivers on the promise of a 20-year-old Orange County habitat conservation plan that eased development restrictions in certain sections of rare coastal sage scrub in exchange for habitat protections in other areas.
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