BOBCAT DEN, PLANTS STOP ROAD PROJECT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

A $31 million freeway widening project requiring extensive dynamiting was halted at the last minute Tuesday when a state biologist found a bobcat den and possibly rare plants.

Caltrans officials said no one has actually seen a bobcat - just a den - and that the suspect plants might turn out to be an unendangered variety.

Nonetheless, widening of the Antelope Valley Freeway was halted for at least a month.

``We have to err on the side of caution,'' said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

The construction halt came less than four hours before the first in a monthlong series of explosions was scheduled to widen the freeway cut near Vasquez Rocks County Park.

The discovery was made by a state biologist surveying the area in a last-minute check before Tuesday's noontime blasting, officials said.

The bobcat den was discovered within 100 feet of the explosion site, about a quarter-mile south of Escondido Canyon Road on the north side of the freeway.

The biologist also discovered plants that might be endangered species, Tiritilli said. However, she could not make a positive identification because the plants are dormant for the winter.

``It's going to take some more investigation before we proceed,'' Tiritilli said. ``The soonest we could proceed is the end of the year, or possibly longer - we don't know at this point. We have to make sure we don't do anything to any of the animals that are there.''

Unlike their larger cousin, the mountain lion, bobcats are not an endangered species and can be hunted. However, it is against state law for anyone - hunters or road builders - to harm the young, state wildlife officials said.

Department of Fish and Game officials say they resist moving bobcats or any wild animal from their homes. The new location already could be another bobcat's hunting ground, the range of a predator or home to a population of animals not resistant to a disease the newcomer is carrying, experts say.

``We just don't like to move animals,'' said Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Moore. ``We don't even like to take a snake off somebody's porch and move it a quarter-mile down the road. A quarter-mile is a long way for a snake.''

The same holds true for plants: Endangered species usually die if they're moved, experts say. So if a project cannot be redesigned to avoid an endangered plant population, alternatives include protecting the same species elsewhere - such as by buying land where it grows for a preserve.

``It's a case-by-case basis,'' said Mary Meyer, a Fish and Game botanist. ``It's an extremely rare situation when they must stop the project. It's a 99.9 percent probability that it's not going to.''

Tiritilli said she did not know what species of plants are suspected of being in the area, or how they might have been missed by officials in drafting the environmental impact report.

Canceling Tuesday's blasting cost the state $1,000 to $2,000 for the work crew and the truck carrying the explosives, officials said.

Because the highway builder, FCI Constructors of Granada Hills, can put its crews to work on another segment of the road-widening project now in progress, the delay caused by the wildlife discoveries might cost the state only $150 to $200 a day, Tiritilli said.

Caltrans started in early 1996 on $130 million worth of construction, adding a car-pool lane to the freeway in each direction between Santa Clarita and Palmdale.

The blasting work was part of a contract to add lanes between Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita and Escondido Canyon Road, expected to cost $31 million and be finished in spring 1999.

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MAP: SITE OF BOBCAT DEN