Threatened Status Rejected : Tecate Cypress Denied Protection by State

To the disappointment of local environmentalists, the state Fish and Game Commission rejected the recommendation of its staff and voted Friday to deny threatened species status to the Tecate cypress.

The tree, listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society, grows in isolated groves in North Orange County canyons, in several locations in San Diego County and at Tecate Mountain, near the Mexican city of Tecate.

Tecate cypresses have never been widespread, and Orange County-based Friends of the Tecate Cypress and other environmentalists have argued that remaining groves are under increasing pressure from development.

The Irvine Co. sent a letter to the commission opposing the proposed listing, a company spokeswoman said, based on an independent study commissioned by the land developer that determined that the tree was not threatened. About half of the roughly 1,000 acres of Tecate cypress trees in Coal, Gypsum and Fremont canyons are on Irvine Co. property.

Connie Spenger, president of Friends of Tecate Cypress, attended the commission meeting in San Diego. She said proponents of the listing may decide to pursue state protection for the tree, although no decision has been made.

“We don’t know quite what we want to do. It depends on how badly the San Diego people want to pursue it,” Spenger said. “We’re not sure we want to irritate the Irvine Co. at this point.” In the last month, at the request of the Fish and Game Commission, the Irvine Co. and the Friends group have discussed ways to preserve the trees.

Spenger said that conferring threatened species status on the tree would have “added a little extra weight” to efforts to protect the Orange County groves. Gypsum Canyon is one of several sites under consideration for a new county dump, which could wipe out up to 300 acres of the trees.

Fish and Game officials could not be reached for comment.