Thanks for a Terrific Memory : Hope’s consent to Santa Monica Mountains preservation deal is one for the generations

In one fell swoop--after years of complex and uncertain negotiations--Southern Californians may see their state and federal parkland holdings grow significantly. Entertainer Bob Hope agreed Thursday to a deal that will add to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy more than 10,000 acres of mountain property ringing the San Fernando Valley.

As part of this deal, two giant housing projects, originally planned for different sites, will be at a single location, on the Ahmanson Ranch property in Ventura County. The development portion of the deal must still be approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors; most of the supervisors have said they support the consolidated projects.

But not everybody is happy about the deal. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, whose San Fernando Valley district is across the county line from the Ahmanson Ranch, and some open-space advocacy groups oppose the project and worry about the additional traffic it will generate.

But the project has widespread support among environmentalists because it will preserve all of Hope’s 2,300-acre Jordan Ranch in Agoura Hills. It will also complete the area’s wildlife corridor, permitting native deer, bobcats and mountain lions to range along 35 unbroken miles from the Santa Susana Mountains to the ocean. In acquiring this property, Californians have also preserved acres of oak-dotted savannahs, sweeping mountain vistas and Corral Canyon, Malibu’s lush coastal canyon. Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, praises Hope for his generosity in selling more than 7,000 acres for less than a third of the rate that park agencies are paying for nearby land.

Hope will receive $29.5 million from state bonds and federal appropriations. The Ahmanson Land Co. will donate 3,000 additional acres to the public in exchange for development rights.

Bob Hope has made a permanent and invaluable contribution to the recreational assets of all Californians. Much of the credit goes as well to Edmiston, the conservancy’s aggressive and innovative director, and Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who helped put together the deal between Hope and the park agencies. But the real winner in this deal--the largest single parkland acquisition in California in 30 years--is the public.