Study Backs Inclusion of 8,000 Acres in Santa Susanas in New State Park

Eight thousand acres north of the San Fernando Valley qualify for inclusion in a proposed state park because they have botanically diverse plant communities, natural scenic attributes and potential as a recreational area for populous Los Angeles County, a study released Tuesday concluded.

The land, which is part of a proposed Santa Clarita Woodlands State Park, is “especially attractive because it is so close to a lot of people,” said Lon Spharler, manager of park system planning for the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which prepared the study. “The next step will be to acquire the land. The big problem is going to be finding the funds for it.”

Park planners estimated the cost of buying the land from its 94 different owners at $44.1 million, or an average of $5,250 an acre. But no funds are presently available.

The study, begun two years ago, is part of an effort by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) and local environmentalists to preserve the dense forests, sparkling waterfalls and abundant wildlife in the privately owned Santa Susana Mountains land between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.

“I’m elated that the professionals in the state Department of Parks and Recreation have determined that the area . . . is so significant that it deserves protection,” said Davis, who released the study at a news conference at his Northridge office.

Although only 6,000 acres were in the initial study, the department concluded that more than 8,000 acres in the area were valuable and should be acquired.

The study said 2,700 acres in Rice, Wiley and Leaming canyons should be purchased first because they contain “the best wildlife habitats, the most extensive area with the greatest tree cover” and are the most scenic and accessible.

“Our main interest is in acquiring a core for the project,” Spharler said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. “Then, we’ll have to work with the property owners one by one as funds become available to get the rest. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

He estimated that it would take at least 10 years for the state to acquire most of the property.

The study estimated that 9.5 million people who live within a 40-mile radius of the area would be served by the proposed park.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency that acquires land for parks, said the Santa Susana Mountains land is a critical link in the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor that the conservancy is trying to create to encircle the San Fernando Valley.

Last summer, the conservancy purchased 145 acres at the foot of Towsley Canyon near Calgrove Boulevard and the Golden State Freeway as a first step toward creating the state park.

The conservancy’s board will vote on whether to buy 271 additional acres of Towsley Canyon land at its meeting Monday, Edmiston said. If that purchase is approved, he said, the conservancy would still have about $10 million available to purchase what he called key access areas into the proposed park.

“There will have to be another funding source,” Edmiston said. “But we have pretty much tied up the access points.”