Local News in Brief : Park Service to Get Gift of Canyon Land

The Mountains Restoration Trust on Friday will turn over to the National Park Service 200 acres of Malibu Canyon that it purchased six years ago, the trust announced Tuesday.

The land, bought by the trust with a $750,000 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy, includes 102 lots in an area known as Las Flores Heights in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The trust, which was able to buy 60% of the lots from one man, has since repaid the grant.

The trust was created in 1981 by the Coastal Conservancy, which suggested that nonprofit organizations can often save more time and be more cost-effective than government. The conservancy provided the grant money and technical assistance for the project.

“Las Flores will remain in its natural condition with the creek flowing freely to the sea and the fragile watershed continuing to function as an ecological system,” the trust said.