WARDEN HALTS CLEANUP CLEARANCE MAY HARM RED-LEGGED FROG HABITAT.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer LAKE HUGHES - Mark Townsend says he just wants to clear out the dead cottonwood limbs, years-old mounds of fruit tree branches and tangles of willow and nettles net·tle n. 1. Any of numerous plants of the genus Urtica, having toothed leaves, unisexual apetalous flowers, and stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact. 2. Any of various hairy, stinging, or prickly plants. around the home he bought six months ago. But a state Fish and Game warden told him to stop, saying he could be changing the course of the intermittent stream that crosses his six acres and may be harming habitat for protected species like the red-legged frog Red-legged Frog is a common name for two alike kinds of frog of the west coast of North America, which are also known, in distinction from each other, as the Northern Red-legged Frog and the California Red-legged Frog. . ``He said: 'We're going to bring a biologist out and see what damage you've done,''' said Townsend, standing under the cottonwood trees shading a remnant pool of water in the tiny creek. Townsend says he's worried about the brush fire season, which he doubts will wait until state officials make up their minds about what he's doing. ``I don't want to lose everything I own,'' said Townsend. Townsend, operations manager See datacenter manager. for a Glendale equipment rental firm, said he bought the property - which contains a one-story house, pens in which he keeps goats, and fruit trees - last winter, looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a home out of the city. He began cleaning up the property in January, hauling away junk left behind by previous owners, and started trimming back dense vegetation around the sandy creek Sandy Creek may refer to: Australia:
That was when he got a visit from the Fish and Game warden. Townsend has halted his cleanup and shut off the small pump that had been drawing water through a garden hose to water his fruit trees. He's also posted a wooden sign saying ``Frog legs: $4.99 a pound,'' though no one has actually seen a red-legged frog on his property. And he alerted the news media about his plight. He's been interviewed by TV and print reporters, and was on a radio call-in program. Department of Fish and Game Regional Manager Charles Raysbrook said the department does not interfere with clearing brush for fire protection. ``We had been informed there had been a water diversion in that particular area,'' Raysbrook said. The Department of Fish and Game has sent Townsend applications for streambed streambed or stream channel Any long, narrow, sloping depression on land that had been shaped by flowing water. Streambeds can range in width from a few feet for a brook to several thousand feet for the largest rivers. alteration and diversion permits, he said. A property owner must prove that by diverting water he is not affecting threatened or endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. , Raysbrook said. ``Our issue is impact to resources,'' Raysbrook said. But Townsend said he is not trying to change the creek's course. He says he was ordered to stop cutting the low-hanging willow bushes along the stream, not to rake up To collect together, as the fire (live coals), and cover with ashes To bring up; to search out and bring to notice again; as, to rake up old scandals s>. See also: Rake Rake the dead leaves and pine needles pine needles pine npl → Kiefernnadeln pl pine needles npl → aghi mpl di pino in the sandy bed, and not to move the piles of tree limbs that line one bank. The tree limbs, cut from cherry, pear and apple trees on the property, were piled up by a previous owner to stop the stream from cutting closer to buildings, Townsend said. The piles are now more than 10 feet tall. Dead cottonwood branches lie thickly among the underbrush on the other side of the creek. The creek once ran on the other side of the pen in which he now keeps goats, Townsend said, but a previous owner piled up dirt to shift its course years ago. Based on an old topographic map (Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) A map depicting terrain relief showing ground elevation, usually through either contour lines or spot elevations. The map represents the horizontal and vertical positions of the features represented. , he believes Los Angeles County workers originally, around 1960, diverted the stream's path across Lake Hughes Road. Townsend says he keeps a police scanner with him at work to listen for brush fire calls. He raced home from work six weeks ago when he heard a brush fire was burning on Lake Hughes Road. That one turned out to be miles away in Castaic. But a brush fire that weekend in the Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established by executive order on December 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve. It covers over 2,600 km² (650,000 acres) and is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, just north of the metropolitan area of Los was only two mountain ridges away. Townsend said he was told the permits could cost $1,000 and take 90 days to decide. ``It's not like I'm driving a tractor through that creek and killing the stupid frog.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) A game warden told Mark Townsend to stop clearing brush from his land, saying he could be changing the course of an intermittent stream and harming habitat for protected species. (2) After Mark Townsend was told to stop brush clearance for a frog he's never seen on his land, he posted a joke sign. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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