House Panel Backs Funds for Land in Santa Monicas : Parks: Subcommittee recommends $14 million for acquisitions in the recreation area. The amount is more than 18% of the national total.

An influential congressional panel on Tuesday recommended that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area receive $14 million for new parkland next year.

The sum, approved by the House Appropriations subcommittee on interior for the 1993 fiscal year, is less than half the amount requested by park advocates.

But it represents more than 18% of the total for park acquisition nationwide in a particularly tight budget year.

“This is half full, not half empty,” said Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), who asked the subcommittee last month for $33 million for the Santa Monica Mountains.

“We did ask for more, as we always do, and we always know to expect less than we ask for,” Beilenson said. “We are pleased that we did that well. Obviously, we have good use for additional monies, but so do many other parks in many parts of the country.”

The panel’s national appropriation was $77 million--down from $83 million in the current fiscal year.

The Santa Monica Mountains received $14 million this year.

President Bush had recommended the same amount in his budget for fiscal 1993, which begins Oct. 1.

Beilenson said he expects the money to be used for the high-priority acquisition of the Paramount Ranch tract in Agoura.

The oak-studded property is held by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, but could be lost to foreclosure unless a $17.6-million note is paid.

Park proponents also had sought additional funds to purchase the centrally located Soka University site on Mulholland Drive in Calabasas for a visitors center and park headquarters.

Soka, which wants to establish a major university on the site, has said the much-coveted property is not for sale.

Beilenson cautioned that even the $14 million is not assured.

The spending bill now goes to the full Appropriations Committee, and then to the House floor.

The Senate will approve its own version of the measure, setting the stage for conferees from each chamber to reconcile the differences.

“It’s not a foregone conclusion,” Beilenson said of the Senate’s position. “We have to now persuade them that it’s worth spending nearly 20% of the money just on this one park.”

The recreation area, a patchwork of mountain parks and private holdings, extends from Griffith Park in Los Angeles to Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County.

The National Park Service has acquired about 17,500 acres--half of its 35,000-acre goal.

The interior subcommittee also included $250,000 for the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom, a 13-year-old program in Franklin Canyon above Sherman Oaks that introduces 75,000 inner-city children a year to nature and the outdoors.

The money is to offset deep reductions in state and private funding.

The program has largely been funded by the conservancy, grants and private contributions.

The appropriation, sought by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), is part of an agreement to provide $250,000 a year to the center for a decade before the Park Service takes it over, a Berman aide said.