Federal officials today will declare the San Bernardino kangaroo rat an endangered species, indefinitely extending emergency protection granted to the rodent back in January, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife official said.

Local government and business leaders decried the action as a major setback to the county's economic recovery.

"This will affect any kind of development along creek beds and river beds," said San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors chairman Jerry Eaves. "We don't have any choice in the matter. We just have to live with it."

Environmentalists hailed the decision.

"We're very pleased. This should have been done years ago," said Leeona Klippstein, conservation director for the Spirit of the Sage Council, a Pasadena-based environmental group that has worked to protect sage lands in San Bernardino County.

The San Bernardino kangaroo rat will be listed under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which protects rare animals and plants and their habitats from destruction.

For various reasons, three major development efforts under way in the San Bernardino kangaroo rat's habitat -- the Foothill Freeway, the Seven Oaks Dam and the redevelopment of Norton Air Force Base -- are not affected by the listing.

But mining operations in the Santa Ana River in Highland and a potential housing development north of Rialto could stall in the effort to protect the kangaroo rat, which lives and breeds in the sandy soil in and around rivers and streams.

"This will have more than $1.5 billion impact on our business," said Jim Gore, spokesman for Ontario-based Sunwest Materials. Sunwest mines gravel and sand in the Lytle Creek Wash and Santa Ana River for freeway and road con

struction.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the Endangered Species Act, cited alleged threats made by Gore as the reason for granting the San Bernardino kangaroo rat emergency protection on Jan. 27.

"There were comments made by Mr. Gore that posed a threat to the species," said Jim Bartel, deputy field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Carlsbad office. Bartel said the comments were made during meetings between officials of Sunwest and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the Highland project.

Gore said he never threatened the species. He said the company was negotiating a habitat protection plan with the service, and he had said that in the absence of a plan Sunwest would proceed to mine if it secured the necessary permits.

"We wanted to try to reach an agreement with them," Gore said.

Emergency listings are rare. Bartel said only about a dozen have been issued during the past 20 years. More than 800 animals and plants in the U.S. are listed as endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Local officials fought against the emergency listing during public hearings, in letters to federal officials and during visits to Washington, D.C. But Bartel said Fish and Wildlife officials weren't presented with any evidence to counter the claims of researchers that the San Bernardino kangaroo rat is close to extinction.

"Most of the comments focused on whether there was a reason to grant it emergency listing. But what triggered that is less important now than having to deal with people," Bartel said, noting the 240-day emergency listing expires today at midnight. Regular protection goes into effect Thursday morning.

Bartel said Fish and Wildlife officials will spend today notifying local leaders of the decision.

The Endangered Species Act does not allow economic factors to be considered in the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision whether to list a species, Bartel said.

Klippstein said she believes protecting endangered species and their habitats have a positive effect on the economy.

"Government officials will see property values go up. And that's where the tax revenue base is -- not with mining," she said.

But San Bernardino County Supervisor Dennis Hansberger disagreed, saying that mining is the "cornerstone of civilization."

"Everything you touch has been either mined or grown. People who oppose mining couldn't make their claims over a telephone if it weren't for mining," Hansberger said.

"There are a lot of kangaroo rats in this valley. I don't know how many are San Bernardino kangaroo rats, but this valley is overrun with kangaroo rats. I doubt they are in any real danger," he added.

The San Bernardino kangaroo rat is one of several subspecies of Merriam's kangaroo rat, which lives throughout the Western United States and Mexico. The San Bernardino variety once roamed over 300,000 acres in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Development has reduced their range to 3,247 acres dispersed in seven locations. The San Bernardino kangaroo rat is different from its cousins in that it has four instead of five toes on its hind feet. Researchers value the San Bernardino kangaroo rat because it is one of the few known creatures that can survive without water. It gleans the moisture it needs by consuming seeds.

One of its cousins is the endangered Stephens' kangaroo rat, which Riverside County officials have spent $46 million trying to protect.

Riverside County and other local governments have been struggling for nine years to create a permanent western county reserve for the endangered Stephens' kangaroo rat.

Environmentalists have questioned whether the 41,000-acre reserve system will save the endangered rodent from extinction, while property owners have complained that they should not have been required to pay most of the cost of the plan.

Published 9/23/1998