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 ast month, Scenic America, a national conservation
organization, released a report naming California's South Coast
foothills one of its twelve Last Chance Landscapes. These endangered
landscapes are places of beauty or distinctive community character
with both a pending threat and potential solution.
 "As
millions of Americans head home for the holidays, many will find
that home isn't what it used to be. Our everyday landscapes and
scenic vistas are rapidly disappearing," said Meg Maguire,
President of Scenic America.
Maquire said
that unplanned growth is overrunning rural landscapes and draining
America's cities and towns. New and poorly designed roads and
strip malls are paving over farmland and historic sites; billboards
litter the nation's roadsides, and wireless communication towers
puncture communities and scenic vistas.
Located between
Los Angeles and San Diego, the area includes the San Onofre State
Beach, the San Mateo Creek wetlands nature preserve and the Rancho
Mission Viejo Land Conservancy. It is the last fully intact coastal
watershed south of Ventura, California. Nine federally endangered
or threatened species live here and the area is known for its
world-class biodiversity.
Ten Native
American sites, including three burial grounds and several villages,
also lie in the path of a proposed toll road. The Transportation
Corridor Agency plans to build a 16-mile private toll road through
this beautiful and fragile environment. The threatened landscape
can be saved by enforcement of the federal Endangered Species
Act and passage of state legislation that would establish a stringent
process to review road construction on California State Park
Lands.
"The
polls show overwhelmingly that Americans want to save natural
beauty, protect open space and live in well designed communities,"
said Maguire, referring to over 200 ballot initiatives to protect
open space that voters approved within the last year. "People
everywhere need to look around, identify what they love and demand
better scenic conservation and land use practices as their communities
grow."
Scenic America
is a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC,
whose mission is to preserve natural beauty and distinctive community
character. Since 1978, Scenic America has helped citizens and
public officials in thousands of communities nationwide protect
their scenic heritage. Scenic America advocates for federal,
state and local laws and policies that support scenic conservation
and community livability. 
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