Biodiversity and Landscape Planning

Biodiversity & the Need for Landscape Planning

Biodiversity, in the simplest terms, is the pattern and variety of life and its processes. It is a manifestation of genetic diversity and is the result of the evolutionary adaptation of plants and animals to environmental conditions. As such, relationships between type and quality of habitat and species diversity are tightly coupled. Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board identified habitat modification and loss of species diversity at the highest level of environmental risk to the country (U.S. EPA, 1990). The Board expressed the view that natural habitats are under severe and widespread stress, primarily from the loss, alteration, and degradation of natural ecosystems resulting from direct and indirect human activities. Yet, while the unprecedented rate of decline in worldwide biological diversity has become a major public concern, few studies have attempted to systematically, spatially, and quantitatively assess risks to biodiversity at the regional landscape scale. The intent of this project, Biodiversity and Landscape Planning: Alternative Futures for the Region of Camp Pendleton, California, is to examine the connections between urban, suburban, and rural development and the consequent stresses on native habitats and biodiversity.

While the initiative of this study stems from a research question, the issues of biodiversity are not limited to scientific inquiry. The breadth of social values and range of physical needs associated with biodiversity, and thus the impetus to conserve biodiversity, are best described by E. O. Wilson and Paul Ehrlich, who provide three observations. "The first [reason] is ethical and esthetic. Because Homo sapiens is the dominant species on Earth, we and many others think that people have an absolute moral responsibility to protect what are our only known living companions in the universe. Human responsibility in this respect is deep, beyond measure, beyond conventional science for the moment, but urgent nonetheless. The second reason is that humanity has already obtained enormous direct economic benefits from biodiversity in the form of foods, medicines, and industrial products, and has the potential for gaining many more. Biodiversity is a precious 'genetic library' maintained by natural ecosystems. But the potential of the library to supply such benefits has barely been tapped. The third reason, perhaps the most poorly evaluated to date, is the array of essential services provided by natural ecosystems, of which diverse species are the key working parts." (Ehrlich and Wilson, 1991)

In recognition that research on the loss of biological diversity can be addressed effectively only through the cooperation of interested parties, the inter-agency Biodiversity Research Consortium (BRC) was formed to develop analytical methods for assessing and managing risks to biodiversity. Current membership in the consortium includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI) through the National Biological Service, the Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Smithsonian Institution, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In addition, a number of academic institutions participate as research collaborators, including Harvard and Utah State Universities. The BRC conducts biodiversity-related research at a hierarchical set of spatial scales. This research on the area surrounding Marine Corp Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton is one of the pilot investigations at the regional or landscape scale, and was organized to explore how urban and suburban growth and change which is forecast and planned in the rapidly developing area located between San Diego and Los Angeles will influence biodiversity. Other BRC pilot studies include state-scale analyses of Oregon and Pennsylvania and a national-scale analysis of bird species diversity.

The location of the region of Camp Pendleton is shown in figure 1. Recognizing that land-use changes and the hydrologic regimes that influence biodiversity occur over a large area, the study area has been defined as the five watersheds of the rivers that flow through or are immediately adjacent to Camp Pendleton. These watersheds are the San Juan, the San Mateo, the San Onofre, the Santa Margarita, and the San Luis Rey. It should be noted that while the definition of the study area in terms of physical terrain is valuable for understanding the natural processes of the area, it does not easily adapt to jurisdictional boundaries. As shown in figure 2, the study area straddles parts of Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties.

The region is one of the country's most desirable places to live and work, and it continues to grow and develop. Its population in 1990 was about 1.1 million, as shown in figure 3. The regional planning agencies forecast that by 2010 the population will grow to 1.6 million, and it is expected to continue to grow beyond that date. The effects on biodiversity will depend on several factors including where and how people build homes, where new industry will be located, where new infrastructure will be built to support urbanization, and whether and where land will be conserved.

The study area is one of the most biologically diverse environments in the continental United States. It supports a variety of habitat types including coastal lagoons and estuaries, coastal scrub areas, maritime-influenced chaparral and scrub communities, oak woodlands, coniferous mountain areas, and dry, hot, sparsely vegetated deserts. Each of these supports a unique range of animal species. Within the region are over 200 plants and animals listed by federal or state agencies as endangered, threatened, or rare. These include the least Bell's vireo, the coastal cactus wren, and the California gnatcatcher. In addition, a number of plants and animals are of local concern due to declining populations, such as the California cougar.

The landscape within MCB Camp Pendleton, the largest unbuilt portion of land on the southern California coastline, is central to maintaining the long term biodiversity of the area. The base's 49,857 hectares include diverse habitats of coastal tidal zone, sensitive riparian vegetation, steep hillsides covered with sage and chaparral, fire prone grasslands, and mature stands of oak forest. Camp Pendleton's twenty-seven kilometer coastline remains the only large habitat area for marine birds in southern California. Its northeast boundary abuts the San Mateo Wilderness Area of the Cleveland National Forest, and it is close to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, which maintains the largest remaining native California bunchgrass grassland. As a result, Camp Pendleton plays a key role in the connectivity of the region's ecosystems.

While Camp Pendleton is largely unbuilt, it is not undeveloped. The primary mission of the base is the training of Marines and, as seen in figure 4, its entire area is administered for diverse functions toward that goal. Of unique importance, Camp Pendleton is the only facility on the west coast where amphibious assault maneuvers can be practiced. Moreover, the Marines expect that training activities on the base will be expanded and intensified as units relocate from decommissioned bases to Camp Pendleton. (USMC, 1991). The combination of the increasing development pressures, both on the base and in the surrounding region, and high biodiversity creates a setting where natural resource issues come into sharp focus.

The situation of a major military facility becoming increasingly interdependent with its surrounding area is not unique to this study area. As activities on some bases intensify due in part to base realignments and closures elsewhere, and development pressures in their regions increase, potential conflicts between the military mission and local concerns can bring issues of land use and land management to the fore. The management of biodiversity is one of these issues. The costs of potential conflicts and the benefits of their resolution are of significance, in this case not only for MCB Camp Pendleton and its region, but for the nation.

Readers should consider some caveats:

The investigators are conducting independent research and not providing consulting or planning services to any regional stakeholders, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), or MCB Camp Pendleton.
The investigators have made assumptions based upon publicly available documents, without having met widely with private stakeholders or local government.
The research models are based on existing and publicly available data. The investigators cannot be held responsible for data errors or their implications.
Private property boundaries and local governmental jurisdictions are not being considered in the alternative futures except as they are identified in published regional plans.
The research has a limited scope with a selective focus on biodiversity and related aspects of environmental planning. The research findings, including the alternative future scenarios and their comparative evaluations, are not intended to be comprehensive analyses of the region.

In summary, there are several reasons for the research group to have selected the region of Camp Pendleton for study. First, it has some of the highest biodiversity in the United States. Second, it is experiencing dramatic growth and will have to manage increasing development pressures. Third, a considerable amount of information about the area has been compiled, but had not yet been synthesized across county boundaries for the regional management of biodiversity. Fourth, there is still time to make a difference.