This Bargain Can’t Wait

Only a few miles from the crowds on Zuma Beach is a quiet canyon where cattle and a few horses graze. A sycamore with its roots half-exposed stands sentinel in the dry creek bed. Chaparral covers the lower slopes. From the fire road the views of ocean in one direction, hills in another should be enjoyed by Southern Californians in search of escape from city heat and pressures. But, until the federal government can free $6 million to add Lower Zuma Canyon to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, this parcel of nearly 1,000 acres stands in constant danger of development.

There is a possible holding action. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy wants to buy the land from the Adamson family, descendants of the Rindge family that obtained the land in 1890, in order to preserve the property until the federal government can pay for it. Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed this item in the state budget, and now the Legislature is being asked to add the money to a bill (AB 471) that would extend the life of the conservancy. It is a thrifty idea--one that the Legislature should again approve and the governor reconsider when it crosses his desk again.

So concerned is the conservancy that it has offered to suspend negotiations on an already-approved $3-million purchase of Malibu Sequit and Cold Creek Ranch and apply that money toward buying Lower Zuma Canyon if the state will put up the other $3 million. Here is an opportunity to buy high-priority land from a willing seller at the best price that it will ever carry.

Rather than considering this money a loan to the federal government, it should instead be viewed as a loan to the people of California to preserve the largest undeveloped coastal canyon in Los Angeles County. It is true that a great many state projects are competing for approval. This one can’t wait.