Budget Problems Hurt Natural Area Centers : Parks: Placerita Canyon facility is one of 17 countywide that have been forced to repeatedly retrench because of spending cuts.

Los Angeles County’s network of 17 natural areas are in trouble financially, and plans have been made to charge an entrance fee to parks such as the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.

The natural area system is in its second year of operating without any budgeting from the county. The staff is slated to be slashed from 15 to five this year, said natural area administrator Frank Hovore. Two years ago, the system had a budget of $657,000, Hovore said, but this year is operating on a promissory note from the county of $285,000.

Plans to restructure the Parks and Recreation Department and increase revenue through corporate sponsorships and user fees have been proposed and, Hovore said, could be the only means by which the centers continue to remain open on a daily basis.

“We are going to be in a position of self-sufficiency,” Hovore said.

One of the revenue-raising ideas is to have local corporations sponsor a month of operating costs at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center, Hovore said.

It takes about $4,000 each month to keep open the 7,200-square-foot-facility, which annually hosts about 35,000 schoolchildren on field trips, Hovore said. At one time, the center had five full-time permanent employees and a contingent of part-timers. Now, there are no part-time employees and two full-timers, Hovore said, and one of those could be lost to budget cuts by the end of the year.

Currently, the center only charges for parking, but there are plans to start charging a general admission fee as well as fees for things such as outdoors classes.

Hovore hopes that department restructuring and increased revenues will allow the natural area system to limit layoffs, but even if the restructuring succeeds, morale is already at rock-bottom and staff are leaving, he said.

Valerie Vartanian, supervisor for three of the natural areas, including Placerita Canyon, will be leaving to work for the international conservation group, The Nature Conservancy, next month, Hovore said.

“She’s done nothing but take budget reductions and figure out how to provide services to an increasing number of people with less and less and less,” said Hovore, who is unsure whether another person can be hired to take her place.

Vartanian has been with the nature areas system for about 15 years, Hovore said, first as a volunteer and then a part-timer before becoming a full-time employee five years ago.

Hovore said he has hope that changes being undertaken will save the natural areas system, but that he too is prepared to leave.

“I’m not the captain of this ship, and I’m not chained to its mast,” Hovore said. “If it goes down, I’m not going down with it.”