Don’t Tame Santa Clara River

The Santa Clara River arises in the Angeles National Forest east of Soledad Canyon, flows through the Santa Clarita Valley past Magic Mountain and continues almost due west through Ventura County to the Pacific Ocean. The stream-side woodland is remarkably unspoiled and supports many species of wildlife including two endangered species: a bird, the least Bell’s vireo, and a small fish, the unarmored three-spined stickleback. The Santa Clara is one of the last wild and free rivers in Southern California. In 1994, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated a 12-mile, 3,500-foot-wide segment of the river as “critical habitat” to protect the least Bell’s vireo. The Newhall Land and Farming Co. owns nearly all the land in the critical zone that encompasses the river in Los Angeles County as well as thousands of acres next to the zone.

The owners have long cherished a lucrative future for the property they call the Newhall Ranch. They are boldly planning no less than a brand new city! On 12,000 acres they want to build 24,000 residences with a projected population of 70,000 people. Their plans include a 200-acre business park, a golf course, a concrete-lined lake and 10 schools. The effect of a development of this magnitude is simply staggering. Some 1,500 acres of rich farmland would disappear at a time when there is mounting concern--especially in California--for vanishing agricultural production. There is no provision for a water supply. Increased traffic from thousands of cars would clog the already jammed Golden State Freeway. And the Santa Clarita Valley, with its currently high air pollution, would receive a formidable jolt of exhaust emissions. Buildings, roads and sidewalks would replace open land that absorbs rainfall, so runoff into the river would increase drastically, carrying with it oil, gasoline and other pollutants. The Newhall Ranch project is a classic example of urban sprawl that is engulfing the few remaining unspoiled places in Southern California.

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In this area the Santa Clara River in summer never runs dry but flows calmly and smoothly in its leisurely path to the sea. When the rains come it can be truly a wild and vigorous river. Yet the Newhall project would introduce earthen fill into the flood plain and build subdivisions and commercial centers upon it along the river corridor.

In this day and age it is a cardinal sin to build in a flood plain. The cost of cleanup can be steep and is usually paid for by the vulnerable taxpayer. Levees with riprap on the banks to control the river are planned. A particularly wet year could cause the river to overflow the levees and destroy property. It is not inconceivable that eventually the Santa Clara will be channelized and leave us with another concrete-lined Los Angeles River.

Opposing the Newhall Ranch are two dedicated local groups: the Friends of the Santa Clara River and SCOPE (the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment). They have met with Newhall people who carefully ignore their views. They point out that there are 52,000 housing units already approved for development in the Santa Clarita Valley that have not yet been built and would easily absorb anticipated population growth. They have directly opposed the project as “inappropriate for the site.”

At the same time, realizing that the Los Angeles County Planning Commission might accept the Newhall Ranch blueprint, they are trying to limit the size of the development, moving much of it closer to existing urban zones and away from the river and its flood plain.

SCOPE and the Friends are receiving considerable support from Santa Clarita residents as well as from many environmental organizations. Loss of a rare asset like the Santa Clara River and its green canopy of trees and shrubs simply must not happen. In a sane society it will not happen.