Threat to Cougars

Thank you for the article (“High Costs of Campaigning Taking a Toll,” Dec. 23, Kevin Johnson and Mark Landsbaum) in which Anaheim’s mayor and council members speak frankly of developers’ undue influence on the city’s future.

Recent approval of the “Mountain Park” (Gypsum Canyon) project, and imminent approval of “Cypress Canyon” (Coal Canyon), underscore developers’ outsize weight in city decisions.

A whole species of wildlife, the cougar, will become extinct in Chino Hills State Park if the two developments proceed as planned. Female cougars in the park will die without leaving cubs or kittens, due to closure of the Coal Canyon wildlife corridor. The developments jeopardize survival of other animals in Chino Hills Park and of cougars in the entire Santa Ana mountain range.

In addition, six or more rare species will be destroyed, to a greater or lesser degree, by these developments.

Preserving ridgelines was a prominent theme in Anaheim council members’ campaign speeches. However, the twin developments will see Gypsum Canyon transformed into a hollow shell by 150- to 200-foot cuts and fills. The Coal Canyon development will make the outline of Sierra Peak unrecognizable. Sierra Peak is a landmark for miles around.

Mocking the intent of state planning law, approval of Mountain Park means early closure of Star aggregate mine, which supplies our region with sand and gravel. Mountain Park will pour at least 150,000 daily automobile trips on the already swamped Riverside Freeway and send air quality into a tailspin.

Wildlife biologist Paul Beier recently called on Anaheim to start Coordinated Resources Management Plan proceedings to save the Coal Canyon wildlife corridor. Will Anaheim opt to save this corridor, important to wildlife on a regional scale? Or will Disneyland’s home city go down in the annals of infamy while politicians scramble for dollars?

CONSTANCE SPENGER, President, Friends of the Tecate Cypress, Fullerton