Rancher Offers Museum Home on Range : Culture: A rancher would donate 20 acres of land in Fillmore, including Chumash Indian burial grounds.

Bidding with gusto for the much-sought-after Southwest Museum, a rancher here has offered to donate 20 acres--including Chumash Indian ceremonial grounds--to establish a tourist site in his town.

James Sandoval, who owns a concrete business in Moorpark and an 85-acre citrus grove outside Fillmore, brought along Chief Redstar, an American Indian from the Mishkanaka tribe, to the Southwest Museum headquarters to make his pitch last week.

Scores of cities and developers have signaled strong interest in wooing the 79-year-old cultural center since its directors announced this summer that they are seeking to move the museum from its cramped headquarters in the Mt. Washington area of Northeast Los Angeles.

To distinguish his proposal, Sandoval suggested that the Southwest Museum form the centerpiece of an eclectic historical theme park on his ranch.

Alongside the museum, Sandoval envisions a re-created Civil War battleground and an exhibit of turn-of-the-century agricultural implements. To complement the Southwest’s acclaimed collection of American Indian artifacts, Sandoval plans to offer live demonstrations of Chumash ceremonial rites.

And to turn a profit, Sandoval hopes to build a recreational vehicle park on his ranch. But because the citrus grove is in a greenbelt, any heavy-duty construction would require Ventura County approval and an amendment to the county’s general plan.

If all goes as planned, Sandoval said, travelers from across the country will flock to camp out in Fillmore, a town of 13,000 that encompasses barely 1.5 square miles. In addition to exploring his historical park, they could hop aboard Fillmore’s old-fashioned railroad, which has been featured in several Hollywood Westerns.

Because Fillmore is located in an isolated pocket far from traditional tourist attractions, city officials are promoting the ranch site for its natural beauty rather than its convenience.

“People in Los Angeles are looking for places to go on the weekend, to get out of the congested urban areas,” said City Manager Roy Payne. “Within an hour’s drive, they can be in a place with blue skies, open land and, hopefully, the Southwest Museum.”

Sandoval’s proposal joins a flood of others. The museum has solicited bids from more than 140 cities in Southern California. In Ventura County alone, the cities of Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Ventura, Moorpark and Camarillo have all expressed considerable interest.

“We’ve had more sustained interest from Ventura County than any other county,” said the museum’s executive director, Thomas H. Wilson.

Fillmore’s proposal raises the stakes in the aggressive courtship of Southwest because it includes a donation of land worth an estimated $25,000 an acre. Ventura officials have offered to grant the museum one of two ocean-view properties for a nominal lease--although the city would first have to buy the sites from the present owners.

Doing his best to make his theme-park idea look right, rancher Sandoval invited Redstar to appear in full ceremonial regalia during his meeting with Wilson last week.

“Very few people know anything about the California Indians,” said Redstar, a Thousand Oaks resident who uses only one name and who has conducted sacred ceremonies on the proposed museum site.

Times correspondent Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.