Proposed El Toro National Wildlife Refuge

Current Status:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has reinitiated a proposal to create a new National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on a portion of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County, California. The proposed El Toro NWR, which would encompass approximately 890 acres, would protect rare southern California habitats that support the federally threatened coastal California gnatcatcher and other sensitive species including the cactus wren and orange-throated whiptail. We are currently seeking input regarding this proposal.

Background information regarding past planning efforts is provided in Planning Updates 1 and 2, and updated information about the current effort is provided in Planning Update 3.

Each file below will take a few minutes to download, read, or print using Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). A free copy of PDF is available from the Adobe website.

Planning Updates:

Proposed El Toro NWR Planning Update 1 (September 1998)

Proposed El Toro NWR Planning Update 2 (February 1999)

Proposed El Toro NWR Planning Update 3 (Spring 2009)