Dump Site Foes Trespass to Get Access to Elsmere

Santa Clarita Mayor Jill Klajic and other foes of a proposed garbage dump in Elsmere Canyon have no qualms about trespassing over private lands to reach the portion of the rugged gorge that lies in the Angeles National Forest.

They have even managed to get a key from a sympathizer to unlock metal gates blocking a private road leading to the canyon, which lies east of Santa Clarita off the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The mayor carries a jar of Vaseline with her on hikes into the canyon “in case the locks get rusty.”

“We feel justified somehow, I guess,” said Pat Saletore, one of several opponents of the dump who are offering tours of Elsmere this summer.

BKK Corp., the waste-disposal firm proposing to fill the canyon with 190 million tons of garbage, has written a letter to the city expressing concerns about its liability if trespassers are injured in the remote area.

Trespassing is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

But BKK does not plan to press charges against trespassers, said Ken Kazarian, whose family owns the company.

“It’s troublesome to us, but we’re not going to make a big deal out of it,” he said. “On the one hand, they say they’re going to exercise their constitutional rights and go to court to stop the dump. On the other hand, they don’t respect our rights.”

The dump foes point out that BKK does not own Elsmere, but only has options to buy part of the property. About 1,650 acres, or 58% of the 2,850-acre canyon, lies in the Angeles National Forest, and the rest is privately owned by several parties. The 700-acre prospective dump site straddles public and private land.

The public has the right to enjoy the portion of the canyon owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service. But until recently, thick chaparral made it virtually impossible to gain direct access to the area. It was much easier to trespass.

To solve the problem, dump foes hacked a pathway through the dense brush. Clearing a new trail without authorization in a national park violates federal law and is punishable by fines. However, Denise Rains, a forest service spokeswoman, said the agency has no plans to prosecute the dump activists.