$48 Million in Plan Would Go to Buy Parkland : Environment: The funds, which are earmarked to purchase thousands of acres in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains, would come in $628-million bond measure.

Declaring that the Santa Monica Mountains have helped shape “the California character,” Gov. Pete Wilson this week proposed earmarking $48 million for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to buy parkland in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The funds would be included in a $628-million bond measure, which Wilson described Monday during an Earth Day address as the centerpiece of a sweeping environmental initiative. The bond proposal must be placed on the ballot by the Legislature and then approved by the state’s voters.

State officials familiar with the plan said the $48 million probably would be used to buy the 4,369-acre Runkle Ranch owned by entertainer Bob Hope; the 4,000 acres above Brentwood encompassing Rustic, Sullivan and Upper Mission canyons; and 8,000 acres in the Santa Susana Mountains in the area of the proposed Santa Clarita woodlands park.

Conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston said the three projects are “just some of the high priorities” for his agency. He described the governor’s program as a “breath of fresh air.”

“The only way, at least in Southern California, to preserve the environment is to buy it,” he said.

Wilson’s commitment to the Santa Monica Mountains appears to signal a departure from his predecessor, former Gov. George Deukmejian, who in 1985 vetoed $6 million in the budget for the conservancy to buy additional land. Although Deukmejian later signed legislation extending the life of the agency, he was never considered a friend of the conservancy.

Wilson compared the Santa Monicas to some of the state’s better-known natural wonders, saying: “Our natural treasures--the majestic Sierra, the austere canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains, the ancient forests of the North Coast--have shaped the California character.

“If we lose them, we lose not only part of our heritage and our history but part of ourselves,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s interest in the Santa Monica Mountains was underscored last month when the governor said he supports the concept of swapping federal parkland in the Agoura Hills as a means for state and federal park agencies to acquire large parcels of land owned by Hope in the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains.

Wilson said he supports a land exchange but does not necessarily favor the deal proposed by Hope and developers who want to build on the entertainer’s Jordan Ranch property in eastern Ventura County.

Monday, Douglas Wheeler, Wilson’s resources secretary, said the governor’s bond proposal “has nothing to do with the Hope transaction.” He said it provides the conservancy another way to protect land within its boundaries. “This is yet another tool in his (Edmiston’s) arsenal.”

Without passage of the bond measure, Wheeler said that the conservancy and other state-run land acquisition agencies might run out of funds next year.

Edmiston said $10 million already has been earmarked for Runkle Ranch. However, Edmiston suggested that if the Jordan Ranch project is not approved or substantially scaled down, the state might wind up having to pay Hope more for the property.

The state isn’t the only party interested in Runkle Ranch. Over the months, Hope has gained bargaining strength because Los Angeles County has offered about $35 million for an 800-acre portion of Runkle Ranch called Blind Canyon. The county, desperately short of landfill space, wants to place a garbage dump there.

Hope has not responded to the offer, waiting instead to see how Jordan Ranch fares before the Ventura County supervisors.

Jordan opponents say no landfill can be built in Blind Canyon without Ventura County approval because a third of the landfill would be in that county, as is the road garbage trucks would use to get to it.

Edmiston said Wilson’s proposal to help the conservancy evolved from a request from Harold F. Waraas, an assistant deputy resources secretary, sounding him out about the minimum amount of money the conservancy would need to purchase additional open space. Edmiston put the price tag for two years at about $48 million.

Besides Runkle Ranch, another high-priority project likely to get bond funds is a proposal to buy 8,000 acres of Santa Clarita woodlands, home to the mountain lion and an unusual mix of forest land. A proposed state park on the land would be a key segment in a wildlife corridor.

A third high-priority project listed by Edmiston is acquistion of Rustic, Sullivan and Upper Mission canyons. In a letter to state officials, Edmiston described the canyons as “the last pristine area of its size left in the City of Los Angeles” and the eastern gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The complex of three canyons lies just west of the San Diego Freeway near Sepulveda Pass.

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles), whose district includes much of the Santa Monica Mountains, said he might want to pursue “even more protective policies” for the mountains but nonetheless supports the governor’s conservancy proposal.

Friedman voiced pleasure that the policies of former Gov. Deukmejian, whom he described as “anti-environment,” have given way to a new agenda under Wilson, whom he called “an activist on the environment.”

Wilson’s environmental plan also would help efforts to save endangered coastal areas. Of the bond funds, Resources Secretary Wheeler said, $60 million would go to the Coastal Conservancy to purchase sensitive coastal areas statewide.

The plan does not allocate any new funds for the Coastal Commission, but Wheeler indicated that the environmental initiative will include the agency.

Wheeler noted that the governor’s budget, unveiled last January, proposes increasing the agency’s budget by $656,000, a 12% jump. He described the boost as “a signal of our continued intention to improve their staffing and improve their funding.”

Specifically, Wilson’s goal is to get the commission to complete local coastal plans and then have adequate staff and “enforcement capacity” to ensure that these shoreline blueprints are followed, Wheeler said.