Audubon California is one of many environmental and conservation organizations participating in a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service improperly downplayed the potential impacts that the proposed extension of the Orange County Foothill South toll road will have on threatened or endangers species.

Audubon California got involved in the suit because we feel the Service failed to see the impacts the toll road would have on threatened and endangered bird populations.

The proposed project would harm a number of threatened or endangered bird populations, including critical populations of the San Diego Cactus Wren and the Coastal California Gnatcatcher. Sensitive species such as the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and Grasshopper Sparrow still maintain small breeding populations here as well. In additional, a diverse wintering raptors community, including Burrowing Owls have been nearly extirpated from the coast of southern California. The Southern Orange County Important Bird Area -- which includes the proposed project site -- is also of critical importance for the few remaining pairs of Golden Eagles left in Orange County, and it also contains alkali marshes along Chiquita Canyon that support hundreds of Tricolored Blackbirds.

Here is a list of the sensitive bird species occurring within the entire Southern Orange County Important Bird Area:

Allen’s Hummingbird

Least Bittern

Northern Harrier

Golden Eagle

Western Snowy Plover*

California Spotted Owl

Burrowing Owl

Long-eared Owl

Southwestern Willow Flycatcher*

Loggerhead Shrike

Least Bell’s Vireo*

Cactus Wren

Coastal California Gnatcatcher*

Swainson’s Thrush

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Sage Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Tricolored Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

White-tailed Kite

*Threatened or endangered species

It should be said that the Southern Orange County Important Bird Area ranks among our most important due to the abundance of sensitive bird species found there, as well as the unique nature of the habitat in this area. Of particular importance is the IBAs coastal sage scrub habitat, which is increasingly rare and under threat from development.

Learn more about Audubon California's opposition to the toll road here.