The Aug. 4 edition of the Review contained an editorial by publisher Debra Godshall ("So, Just How Many Biologists Does it Take to Find a Red-Legged Frog?") and a story by Jeanine Gore ("State and Federal Biologists Find No Frog at Wavecrest").
Both of these pieces were misleading to the public and were apparently written without the Review even bothering to interview the attending biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wild Service and the California Department of Fish and Game.
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It turns out that these biologists were not conducting a search for red-legged frogs, but only checking the Wavecrest site for suitable habitat. The biologists did identify suitable habitat for red-legged frogs.
As a result, the biologists have concerns about how the proposed project would impact the red-legged frog habitat. Although no frogs were observed, there were reports of hearing some distinctive "plops," which could have been frogs jumping into the water.
The July 28 edition of the Review, stated that "hundreds of thousands of dollars" have been spent on environmental studies of the Wavecrest property over the past decade.
Should we be surprised to find out that these costly studies failed to identify the presence of a federally-protected species that was found by an independent biologist after only two short visits? Perhaps not.
Missing from the Review story was any mention of the long-standing history of deficient environmental reviews associated with the Wavecrest project. For example, as recently as March 3, California Coastal Commission Program Manager Chris Kern was quoted in the Review as stating, "to date we have never received a complete wetland delineation as required by the LCP (Local Coastal Program)."
A March 23 letter from the Sequoia Audubon Society to the California Coastal Commission stated that researchers hired by the developer to perform a raptor survey in January 2002 "missed observing a short-eared owl and barn owl that were present on the site."
Given the controversy surrounding the project, it is vital that citizens receive accurate information. Our community is not well-served by editorials and newspaper stories that do not accurately and completely report the facts.
Kevin J. Lansing
Half Moon Bay
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