Park District Gets Grant for Trails

The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District received a $71,000 federal grant to develop a trail system throughout Challenger Park, officials said Friday.

“We are very pleased,” said park district spokesman Rick Johnson. “It’s going to open up a really beautiful area in the hills south of Simi Valley to hikers.”

Johnson said the grant, administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, is competitive. Several agencies were vying for the federal money which was provided under the National Trails Fund Act Program, he said.

Challenger Park is a 141-acre undeveloped community park at the south end of 1st Street that was named in honor of those killed during the space shuttle Challenger disaster. The park is in a secluded and serene setting where “you can’t hear or see Simi Valley,” Johnson said.

The trail system will connect the park with surrounding National Park Service and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy properties.

The district received a $76,200 grant in 1994 to develop a youth campground, a 50-person open-air amphitheater, an access road and a parking lot at Challenger Park. But construction of those facilities has not begun because the park district has not been able to allocate the required matching funds for the project, Johnson said.

If the park district’s board of directors approves overall funding for the park, construction could begin after July 1, Johnson added.