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A Commentary on the Tejon Ranch "Habitat" Conservation Plan
2/23/2009 --excerpted from:
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/murie65.html
"The report goes on to outline outrageous components of the pact that was agreed to by the Sierra Club and California Audubon, two of the groups that gave a green light to the project. Those who signed on would be forever after prohibited from future opposition to moves by development forces. A "conservancy" will be set up to protect endangered species and habitats, but its funding will depend on sales and leases on lands owned by the Tejon Ranch Company. These and other obstacles are giant concessions to the Company Store. It's a sell-out. Developers simply do not understand habitats. That's the job of biologists and ecologists in the employ of Fish and Wildlife. Where are these people when we need them?
There is an attitude of surrender and excessive compromise on the part of what seems, and might be, a majority of conservation and environmental organizations. Surrender is not the way to protect habitats. It is not the spirit that animated the first wave of conservationists. Their attitude was to conserve and share with The Others. Those days are gone. We have to reclaim that heritage. ..."
For more commentary on environmental group compromises with corporate interests:
http://www.swans.com/library/art15/barker12.html
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