U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigating Ramona Duck Club for scraping 92 acres of marsh

SAN JACINTO - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is investigating why the Ramona Duck Club scraped bare a 92-acre marsh that may be federally protected, and where the club earlier got $500,000 in government money to preserve plants, it was reported today.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported that the Duck Club may have violated the federal Clean Water Act, which would have occurred if the large machinery used to scrape the marsh caused silt or dirt to flow into the environmentally-sensitive Mystic Lake near San Jacinto.

A group called the Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley has complained to state and federal officials about the unauthorized scraping of the marsh last September. One of the group members is Tom Paulek, the former manager of a nearby state wildlife area, the Press-Enterprise reported.

The newspaper uncovered $500,000 in federal and state grants that went to the Ramona Duck Club to preserve plants on land that has now been denuded.

An endangered plant called the San Jacinto Valley crownscale was growing in the area that has now been scraped bare.

The newspaper also reported that lands adjacent to the Duck Club, in a wildlife preserve owned by the State of California, had been planted with wheat to attract geese and ducks to feed right next to the Duck Club's hunting blinds. Those plantings have reportedly been stopped by the state Department of Fish and Game

The duck club's president, Malcolm Smith, said he was unaware of the federal probe and said the Fish and Game had approved the grading work. A department spokesman told the newspaper he would look into the matter.