Ecologists Will Gather in the Wilds to Endorse Ward

Environmentalists will gather today in a picturesque canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains to endorse Baxter Ward for supervisor and to criticize recent attempts by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to portray himself as a defender of the environment.

“We want to clear up this nonsense that Antonovich vaguely resembles an environmentalist,” said Trudi Reynolds Gross, a board member of the California League of Conservation Voters, which represents the views of a number of environmental groups.

Officials of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups chose to meet in Cheeseboro Canyon because Antonovich backs a county plan to construct a four-lane road through one of the newest additions to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The park’s former superintendent has called the plan outrageous, but county officials have said the road could reduce traffic congestion in the county’s western edge.

Antonovich shrugged off the endorsements and said he was proud of his efforts to protect scenic areas from billboard blight and to strengthen the county’s oak tree ordinance. He estimated that under his tenure, more than 20,000 oak trees have been planted. He also pointed to his support of a statewide proposition in June that will provide $776 million to preserve and expand parks.

“These groups ought to pay attention to what they are saying because they don’t know what they are talking about,” suggested Roger Scott, Antonovich’s campaign spokesman. “Here is a guy who has backed environmental issues all along.”

But environmental groups say Antonovich is no friend of Mother Nature. They contend that Antonovich has repeatedly voted to amend the county’s General Plan to allow for the building of thousands of additional homes. They also accuse the supervisor of allowing builders to destroy 8,000 mature oak trees in his 5th District, which stretches through the San Fernando Valley to Glendale and Pasadena and beyond to the desert communities in the Antelope Valley.

In contrast, environmentalists say they support Ward’s commitment to park acquisition and recycling to eliminate the need for more county landfills, and his pledge to honor the general plan’s limits. Ward also opposes a road through Cheeseboro Canyon.

Comparison of Data

“We reviewed both records and it was obvious to us that Ward’s record and the statements that he has made for this campaign show him to be the environmental candidate,” said Bonnie Holmes, the conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club’s Los Angeles chapter, which has 50,000 members.

Antonovich rivals adopted a strategy this summer based on the assumption that the supervisor’s environmental record was his Achilles’ heel. In June, slow-growth supporters--who contend that the pro-growth policies of the Board of Supervisors’ conservative majority are aggravating traffic congestion, destroying wilderness corridors and contributing to air pollution--shocked many by helping to push Antonovich into a November runoff.

But Antonovich recently has attempted to thwart his critics’ attacks by claiming that his environmental record is superior to Ward’s, who was a supervisor from 1972 to 1980. He contends that Ward approved 89% of the proposed land development projects, while he favored 90% or 91%.

Interviews with several environmentalists indicate that Ward’s record was a mixed one.

They praised Ward’s appointee to the Regional Planning Commission and his plan to protect the natural beauty of the Mulholland Highway Corridor. They also applauded his formation of citizen groups that devised plans in various parts of the district to balance developers’ interests with the need to preserve open space.

Criticism of Ward

But some criticized Ward for not always keeping abreast of zoning controversies. They complained that one of Ward’s deputies, who eventually left to work for a developer, paved the way for some inappropriate housing tracts.

“Baxter was not manna from heaven at the time, but he sure would be a welcome change now,” said Margot Feuer, an environmental activist from Malibu.

“I think he (Ward) is more environmental now than he was before,” said Dave Brown, who is the Sierra Club’s point man on the Cheeseboro Canyon controversy. “He is not perceived as an environmental activist, but Antonovich is seen as so anti-environment that he has to be taken out. At least Ward you can talk to.”

Meanwhile, Antonovich stepped up the attack on his challenger this week when he began airing radio spots on 10 stations that largely poke fun at Ward.