Conservancy Dedicates 18 Acres of Open Space
An 18-acre swath of open space in Sherman Oaks that will eventually become part of a trail across the Santa Monica Mountains was dedicated Thursday in a ceremony attended by state and federal parks officials and Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo.
The land just north of Mulholland Drive was donated to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy by Griffin Homes, which plans to build a housing tract, Longridge Estates, on an adjacent site.
Donation of the land, dotted with oak and walnut trees, was part of a compromise with neighbors opposed to the project under which the development firm scaled back Longridge Estates from 31 to 18 houses.
John Diaz, chief of land acquisition for the conservancy, a state parks agency, said oak trees displaced by the development will be replanted on the donated tract.
Diaz said the property is an important corridor for movement of wildlife between larger mountain preserves on both sides of Mulholland.
He said the land will also serve as a link in a three-mile cross-mountain trail that eventually will connect existing trails in Dixie Canyon Park in Sherman Oaks and Franklin Canyon above Beverly Hills.
“This was the last link that we needed” to build the trail, Diaz said.
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