Bobcats, mountain lions, deer, foxes and other local wildlife all make regular appearances on trail cameras along the perimeter of 400 largely undeveloped acres that separate Irvine and Peters Canyon regional parks in the rural foothills of east Orange.
The animals use the V-shaped corridor to cross between the two parks and into the nearby Santa Ana Mountains during their increasingly competitive search for food, mates and territory to call home, according to Joel Robinson, an Orange native who heads up the nonprofit Naturalist for You.
White-tailed kites also forage for rodents over the 400 acres, Robinson said, while meadowlarks, greater roadrunners, California quail and other bird species flock to level grasslands that already face climate change-fueled threats of wildfire.
Those are some of the reasons Robinson and nearly 7,000 other area residents have signed a petition in recent weeks opposing Irvine Company’s long discussed and now looming plan to turn those 400 acres into a 1,180-home community called Orange Heights.
Opponents argue that Orange Heights — with its single-family homes that eliminate open space, require commutes and expose residents to high fire risks — illustrates the type of community we should no longer be building in the face of global warming, biodiversity and affordability crises.
“We cannot afford to lose more of our rural, wild and scenic open space to inappropriate urban sprawl,” David Keen wrote as he signed the No Orange Heights petition in late November.
But others are OK with the development, citing concessions made by Irvine Company since the project was first discussed 35 years ago.
Orange Mayor Dan Slater, who counts himself an environmentalist, said in a perfect world there’d be no development in east Orange. But, he argued, “that’s just not realistic.” And he credits activists with ensuring that no development will happen east of the 241 toll road.
“I feel that we came out the winners and the…
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