Better Days Loom for Historic Statue : Preservation: Restoration planned of Miss American Green Cross, a monument erected by a now-defunct group dedicated to saving the nation’s forests.

Her face is scarred and her arms are gone. She can no longer stand up without help. She spent years lost and neglected in an obscure Brand Park canyon, where vandals took potshots at her and the elements eroded her features.

But Glendale officials say better days are ahead for Miss American Green Cross, a 62-year-old statue that was erected amid great fanfare by American Green Cross, a now-defunct organization committed to saving the nation’s forests.

City leaders say the statue has historic value, and they plan to spend thousands of dollars to restore her arms, refinish her bronze skin, rebuild her pedestal and put her back on public display.

Support for the project remains strong, but the restoration of Miss American Green Cross suffered a slight setback last month.

Glendale parks officials had chosen for the project local sculptor Ron Pekar, who said he could complete the work by November for $25,000. He said he would use modern materials that are more durable and vandal-resistant than the concrete-like substance originally used to form the cross behind the statue and the cluster of logs at her feet.

But the Glendale Historic Preservation Commission gave the proposal a cool reception at its September meeting.

“The commission prefers to see it restored to its original condition in both materials and design,” Commissioner William E. Dodson said. “We’re to protect what is historic in the city and try to retain it as much as possible in its original condition.

“To do less, you’re really not restoring, you’re creating something new. We wouldn’t have Miss American Green Cross,” he said.

A further complication arose shortly before the meeting, when a Glendale history buff unearthed some old photos of the statue at the Los Angeles City Library. They showed that it originally stood on a 6-foot-high base, with inscriptions proclaiming the importance of forests.

“Obviously, it was a surprise to us,” said Nello Iacono, the city’s parks and recreation director. “We had never seen that base.”

Artist Pekar suggested that the mammoth base, if rebuilt, would dwarf the delicate 5-foot-tall statue and detract from her beauty. Its size would also spoil a plan to put the statue in a small landscaped area near the Brand Library.

But the Historic Preservation Commission urged that the large base be rebuilt because it was part of the original monument. “It’s not so much the artistic quality. It’s the history behind it that’s important,” Dodson said.

Iacono has asked Pekar to draw up a new budget and schedule for rebuilding the base and restoring the statue with original materials. The new budget is expected to stall the project until next spring.

“Time is not of the essence here,” Dodson said. “The quality is more important than the time element.”

Although she was briefly the center of civic attention, time has not been kind to Miss American Green Cross.

Thousands of cheering onlookers attended her unveiling at the Glendale High School campus on April 23, 1928. On May 4, California’s governor at the time, C.C. Young, placed a strongbox filled with mementos in the monument’s cornerstone.

The statue was a focal point for American Green Cross, but little is known today about the organization.

According to old news articles, the group was founded in Southern California on Dec. 3, 1926, as a successor to the American Reforestation Assn. It promoted the conservation of timber and other natural resources.