SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS : Summer Jobs at Park Pay Off in Satisfaction

Bee stings and compost piles aside, a group of San Fernando Valley teen-agers said the only problem with their summer jobs as groundskeepers at Coldwater Canyon Park in the Santa Monica Mountains is that they are going to end too soon.

“I’m going to miss it,” said 14-year-old Mario Mitchell, the youngest of five teen-agers hired this summer by the nonprofit group TreePeople to help maintain the 48-acre park at 12601 Mulholland Drive south of Studio City.

Under the city’s Summer Youth Employment Training Program, the youngsters are paid $5.47 an hour for their efforts in the six-week program that started July 1. Toiling among the pear, peach, fig and pomegranate trees in the park’s orchard, Mario’s sister, Nikki, said spending time at the park has made her more aware of the environment.

“I didn’t know anything about trees,” said the North Hollywood teen-ager. “By coming here, you really think about them. You learn about the environment.”

But TreePeople, which offers tours and educational programs to some 50,000 park visitors each year, also benefits from the deal.

The teen-agers’ efforts are appreciated, said John P. Lynch, one of two TreePeople staffers who supervise the young crew. “They do a good job.”

The kids have completed several projects at the park, including restoring a hillside that was washed away by the spring rains, installing a handrail on a dangerous visitors staircase and revitalizing a lawn that park officials had given up as dead.

Lynch said he tries to expose them to various types of work.

“I like them to see a little bit of everything we do here,” he said. “It’s nice that we’ve got a place where they can spend the summer doing something besides sitting in front of the TV.”

Sun Valley teen-ager Akop Darmandzhyan agreed that the program is a good way to spend time.

“It’s good for kids,” Akop said, pausing in the afternoon heat. “Well, like, you know, so you don’t get in trouble or something.”