Earth Day Celebrants Barred from Bat Caves Cleanup

They might call themselves the Friends of Ahmanson Ranch, but the Earth Day greeting these environmentalists got at the ranch Sunday was anything but friendly.

The broken-down fence the public customarily slips through to get into the remote 5,400-acre ranch had been freshly repaired, closed with loops of barbed wire.

On the other side of the fence, a watchful fellow in a white pickup truck was guarding the entrance to the ranch, a rolling landscape of hills, oak trees and flowering meadows slated to be developed into a mini-city of 3,050 homes.

And the Bat Caves, the ancient Native American worship site where the group planned to pick up trash in honor of the 26th annual Earth Day, were close enough to see but not close enough to clean.

Vince Curtis, the director of Friends of Ahmanson Ranch, a spin-off of Save Open Space formed specifically to fight the development on the Ventura-Los Angeles county line, said he believes Home Savings of America, the owners of the land, deliberately shut out the Earth Day celebrants.

“The stupid thing is they have had this fence open for years,” Curtis said. “They just happened to close it two days before we try to come and clean it up for Earth Day.”

Attempts to fence off the private property have clearly met with resistance in the past: The barrier is three layers thick with broken remnants of former fences. Locals who live near the adjoining Los Angeles city park, El Escorpion, say they usually climb through openings in the fence to hike or bike.

Curtis tipped off Home Savings to the Earth Day event by calling to ask permission. He never got in touch with any officials and resorted to leaving voice mail messages. He said he checked daily to see if the fence was still open. On Friday, he found it closed, he said.

Home Savings officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

The group of 25 environmentalists and Chumash descendants hiked up to the new fence Sunday morning and stood looking through the barbed wire at the white pickup truck. The man inside never emerged, but the group said they feared he had been sent to videotape them if they tried to trespass.

“I’d rather not get busted,” Curtis said.

The group had to content themselves with picking up trash around the edge of Ahmanson Ranch.

“I’ve got cigarette butts, chewing gum wrappers, rusty cans, broken bottles,” said Westside resident John Tikotsky, peering into the trash bag he was lugging around. “You know. The usual.”

“I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t get into the Bat Caves,” he said.

The caves are long, narrow entrances into the sides of the cliff near Castle Peak. Anthropologist Chester King said they are believed to be a former site of worship for the Chumash Indians. Legend has it that the caves lace underground throughout the entire ridge, but King said no one has been able to find such an extensive network.

Legend also has it that a legless creature called Escorpian lived deep inside the caverns, devouring anyone who dared enter its lair. The creature gave its name to the area nearby, El Escorpion. More realistically, bats and owls are believed to have made their home there, although Curtis said he has never seen them there.

Foiled in his plans to say a Chumash blessing at the Bat Caves, Chumash hereditary chief Charlie Cooke took over a dusty patch of land next to the fence Sunday instead.

“It’s so special here,” Cooke told the group. “We want to try and keep our sites intact and with your help maybe we can.”

When the long-delayed development is built, the Bat Caves will be left intact, but plans call for estate homes to be constructed close by.

“This is going to be in essence someone’s backyard,” Curtis said, pointing up at the rugged hillside behind him.

After Cooke’s blessing, Mata Weiya, one of several traditional dancers from the Native American group Dolphin Dancers, lit a thick sprig of white sage in a purification rite. Dressed in feathers and a head-dress and covered with white and black body paint, Weiya blew baleful calls on a conch shell, chanted in prayer and offered some advice to the developers.

“Don’t break this earth,” said Weiya, who lives in Newbury Park. “This land, like the water and the air, belongs to all people. Don’t let this corruption steal it.”

Although Earth Day actually ended Sunday, some groups have not finished celebrating. In Thousand Oaks there are three Earth Day events today, including a children’s play about environmental issues starring City Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski, an open house at the Environmental Business Cluster from 5 to 7 p.m. and a city-sponsored shopping tour of “green products” at Mrs. Gooch’s market starting at 7:30 p.m.