Santa Monica Mountains Parkland Funds Advance

Under a provision adopted Monday by a Senate subcommittee, the National Park Service would receive $12 million to purchase land in the Santa Monica Mountains to expand the national recreation area there.

Although the amount, approved by the Senate Interior appropriations subcommittee, falls well short of the $21.5 million requested by the Bush Administration, the funds represent the most money appropriated for the area in recent years. Last year, Congress gave $10 million to the park.

The funding is part of the Senate Interior Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1990, which goes before the full Senate Appropriations Committee today and must also be approved by the full Senate later this month. But since the House recently approved an identical amount for the park, officials agree that the funds are almost assured.

“This will make a difference for thousands of acres that were going to go under the bulldozer blade,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Calling the funds “wonderful, marvelous,” David E. Gachenbach, superintendent of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area, said that officials at the National Park Service “had our fingers crossed.”

Bob Hope Property Sought

The park now includes about 16,000 acres. Officials hope to purchase Corral Canyon, a 350-acre parcel in Malibu now owned by entertainer Bob Hope, as well as property along the Backbone Trail, which runs from the Hollywood Freeway to Point Mugu in Ventura County, Edmiston said.

A proposal to build 65 homes and a golf course on Corral Canyon is now pending before the Los Angeles County Planning Commission. Edmiston said he expects the land would cost $8 million to $10 million.

President Bush in February singled out the park for increased funding, in contrast to the Reagan Administration, which sought to cut funding for the park.

However, Congress did not grant all of the Bush Administration’s request. “Obviously Congress felt that with so little money for land acquisition nationwide, it shouldn’t all be put in one area,” Edmiston said. But, he added, “there’s no dissatisfaction.”

Since the park was created in 1978, Congress has been hesitant to fund it. “I think a lot of people are under misconceptions about the land,” said Gachenbach, noting that it is difficult to conceive of a national park existing in the middle of an urban area.

“But in many respects, the resources of the mountains are as unique as some areas in Yellowstone and Yosemite,” Gachenbach said.