SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : City Council Backs State Initiative on Parks and Wildlife

The City Council has backed the proposed California Parks and Wildlife Initiative in an effort to boost signature-gathering efforts in the area.

The initiative would raise $2 billion to buy land for parks and open space throughout the state, including more than $12 million to purchase areas in the Santa Clarita Valley, said Lynne Plambeck, coordinator of the signature-gathering push in the area.

“This is directed at important open spaces, not just any old open space,” Plambeck said. “In order to continue to preserve some of the ecosystems that are privately held, we need to have money to purchase them. We can’t just tell people they can’t develop the property.”

Specifically, $3.2 million would be spent to purchase land along the Santa Clara River, $2 million for a buffer zone throughout the Placerita Canyon Nature Center and $7 million for property in the Santa Susana Mountains, which is a county-designated Significant Ecological Area.

Now is a particularly good time to purchase property, Plambeck said, because land prices have fallen in California.

Statewide, the backers of the initiative must gather 650,000 signatures of registered voters by the end of this month. Organizers in the Santa Clarita Valley hope to contribute about 6,000 signatures.