Santa Monica Mountains to Get $6 Million to Buy Land

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will get $6 million for land acquisition under a catch-all federal spending bill that has been signed by President Reagan.

The money represents a compromise between a House appropriation of $8 million and White House and Senate proposals that no money be allocated to buy land for the mountain park during the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

The $6 million represents nearly 12% of the $52 million allotted by congressional negotiators for expansion of all 337 units of the national park system. The park money was included in a $576-billion federal spending package for departments ranging from Interior to Defense.

The spending measure, approved last week by a voice vote in the Senate and by a vote of 235 to 172 in the House, also restored $200,000 in operating and maintenance funds that were lopped from the Santa Monica recreation area’s budget the last two years.

The compromise appropriation includes a directive that the National Park Service put a priority on completing acquisition of “hardship” tracts in the Santa Monica Mountains. These usually are small parcels whose owners are claiming financial hardship and a need to sell quickly.

26 Hardship Tracts Known

According to congressional and Park Service officials, 13 owners hold 26 hardship tracts in the Santa Monica Mountains, covering about 750 acres and expected to cost about $4.2 million. About 300 acres of those tracts are in Zuma and Trancas canyons in western Malibu.

Buying the “hardship” lands would leave about $1.8 million for other purchases in the coming year.

Congressional negotiators prohibited use of any of the $6 million to buy land from the state. The state sometimes purchases mountain lands that the national recreation area wants but lacks money to buy. When the National Park Service gets the money to repay the state, these parcels are deeded over to the federal government.

The state is now holding about 800 acres in Zuma Canyon that it bought last year on behalf of the Park Service. If the park service does not come up with the $3 million purchase price by the end of 1988, the state will offer the land for private sale. The latest budget language means that transfer of the Zuma Canyon tract could not occur in this fiscal year.

In most years, no strings are attached to acquisition budgets, and Park Service officials have concentrated on purchasing especially large or scenic properties that are threatened by development.

Quaker Corp. Tract

Park Service officials say a top priority is acquisition of the Quaker Corp. tract along Mulholland Highway in Calabasas, which they envision as part of a center for visitor activities such as camping and picnicking.

The agency has saved $3.5 million from last year’s budget for the Quaker acquisition, and could use the $1.8 million left over from the latest appropriation following the hardship acquisitions. However, $5.3 million may not be enough to buy the tract.

The 272-acre parcel is approved for subdivision development and its owner contends it is worth more than $10 million. It is being appraised.

Established by Congress in 1978, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a network of local, state and federal preserves interspersed with private lands and covering 150,000 acres between Griffith Park in Los Angeles and Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County.

Plans call for the National Park Service to own 36,000 acres, of which 11,900, or one-third, have been acquired.

The legislation establishing the park called for more extensive federal holdings and for land acquisition to have been completed before now. But austere budgets for parks during the Reagan years and skyrocketing prices for land in the Santa Monicas have slowed acquisition.

Compromise Struck

In this, as in most recent years, the Reagan Administration proposed no funding for the Santa Monica Mountains and the Republican-controlled Senate concurred, whereas the House sought to continue buying land for the park. The issue then went to a conference committee, where the compromise was struck.

Although it restored the $200,000 in operating funds, the compromise did not include money to reopen the local land-acquisition office in Woodland Hills. The office was abolished earlier this year to cut costs. The House budget had included $300,000 to reestablish the office, but Senate negotiators balked.

The budget language allows the Park Service to use part of the extra operating funds for work on land acquisition. But Dan Kuehn, superintendent of the recreation area, said the $200,000 instead will be used to hire several permanent rangers and laborers and to pay for trail mapping and signs.