The Ahmanson Ranch Development :: Ventura Country Environmental Essays

The Ahmanson Ranch DevelopmentIt all started back in 1989 when nursing home Savings of America announced to build a giant fresh community consisting of 3,050 homes, two schools, two hotels, two golf game courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial and industrial areas on the 5,400-acre Ahmanson Ranch located at the eastern kibosh of Ventura county, adjacent to Los Angeles County. Even though the Ahmanson Ranch has been owned by base of operations Savings of America since 1963, the nature remained undisturbed all these past geezerhood. The feast has become one of the important habitats for barely surviving native organisms including imperil or endangered species. For this and other important reasons, an organization, Friends of Ahmanson Ranch, was formed to stop the using with the support from other environmental organizations, local legislatures, politicians and public. Almost seven historic period have passed since the beginning of this issue, but the conflict still remain unsolved. What is enkindle about this issue is the diversity in the reason which the Friends of Ahmanson Ranch claims for defend the Ahmanson Ranch from development. They point out a variety of reason, and they are non necessarily environmental opinion. First, the reasons of opposition starts from visible things such as plants and financial backing organisms. President of the Native Plant Society San Gabriel Chapter, Melanie Baer, states that the wild grassland ecosystem of Agoura Hills located in the Ahmanson Ranch provides an important habitat for almost-extinct native plant species called Purple needle-grass, or Stipa pulchra. She also suggests that the mitigation of this plant will not be lucky due to its difficulty and poor peripheral environment, such as golf course, of the mitigation site. Similaly, Dr. Barbara J. Collins, professor of biology at California Lutheran University, argues that the environmental impact report prepared for the development was inadequate and she points out the greatness of the oak savannah along a North-facing slope of Lakey Mesa in the Ahmanson Ranch. According to her opinion, these oak trees are about 200 to 300 years old valley oaks and they are very sensitive species. A wide portion of these oaks will be removed, and the remaining will most plausibly not survive the environmental changes they will go through due to its sensitive nature. In addition, these plants create crucial habitat for other life history organisms such as birds, mammals, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles. Some of them are even listed in the federal and State endangered and threatened species lists.