Preserves Could Be Budget Victims : Cuts: To save $574,000, the county is proposing eliminating 15 park staff positions, which could spell the closing of 18 nature centers.

Budget cuts could cause the closure of Charmlee Regional County Park in Malibu and 17 other nature preserves scattered around Los Angeles County, a plan that has sparked protests from park volunteers.

The proposed 1991-92 county budget calls for elimination of 15 positions from the county’s Parks and Recreation Department, ranging from rangers to maintenance workers, at a savings of $574,000.

Mary Jung, assistant county chief administrative officer, said the cutbacks were among the “difficult choices” that had to be made to compensate for the $278-million county budget shortfall expected this year.

“Each of the programs were critical, but we had to make some choices,” Jung said. “This program was less critical than others.”

But park volunteers said the money saved would be a pittance compared to the value of the natural areas to society, particularly to youths who participate in school and community-sponsored field trips.

“We reach inner-city children who are subjected to all kinds of things, and we really do make a difference,” said Alice Nock, president of the Nature Center Associates and a docent at the nature center in Eaton Canyon Park in Pasadena.

The parks vary from undeveloped sanctuaries for plants and animals to formal nature centers featuring Indian archeological or live animal exhibits. The 18 sites encompass more than 6,000 acres and during the last year attracted more than a million visitors, according to the volunteers’ records.

Charmlee is a 461-acre stretch of oaks and grassy hills along the southern part of Encinal Canyon Road. It opened in 1981 and includes a nature center with a museum and picnic grounds.

It and seven other parks, including Tapia County Park in Calabasas, currently have on-site county workers.

The 10 other natural areas--including the Antelope Valley Wildlife and Wildflower Sanctuaries east of Lancaster--do not have full-time staffing, but also would be hurt because county employees from the eight parks lead tours and perform occasional maintenance in those areas, said Jim Okimoto, senior assistant director of the county Parks and Recreation Department.

“This is a tough year, but we are not happy about these cuts,” Okimoto said.

The department will attempt to keep some of the areas open even if the Board of Supervisors approves the staff cuts, he said.

Volunteers and county workers from other parks might be able to continue a few of the current programs, he said, such as nature walks, bird identification and live animal exhibits.

Nock, however, disputed the assumption that volunteers could take over the duties now performed by the county.

“I’m sure volunteers would do their best to provide something,” she said. “But we’re talking about surveillance, maintenance, training volunteers . . . It’s very difficult for a volunteer group to give that sort of service.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich vowed in a June 6 letter to one of the volunteers that he would fight for restoration of the funding for the nature parks when the board makes its final budget decisions in July.