Funds Secured to Finish Coastal Hiking Trail

Realizing a 20-year dream of environmentalists, officials announced Tuesday that $5.5 million in federal funds will be used to complete the longest coastal hiking trail in Los Angeles County, stretching from the Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu in Ventura County.

The money will fund the purchase of up to 400 acres of private mountain terrain that will complete the long-sought 70-mile hiking and wildlife corridor through the Santa Monica Mountains.

The announcement that the Clinton administration was releasing the money to complete the Backbone Trail was made by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), whose district includes the trail.

“This is a great day for the Santa Monica Mountains,” Sherman said. “I believe that this trail will become one of the most widely used recreational resources in the Los Angeles area.”

The trail could be open to the public within a year, officials said. It will provide a link for Topanga, Malibu Creek and Point Mugu state parks, which along with surrounding national parkland attract about 33 million visitors a year.

Until now, government funding for park acquisition in the recreation area has come in trickles, averaging about $700,000 a year. Frustrated with the funding levels, environmentalists and nature lovers began a private fund-raising drive last year, seeking donations and grants to complete the trail. They even sold trail markers bearing the name of the donor for $400 apiece.

Sherman sponsored legislation last year that appropriated $699 million nationwide for parkland acquisition. The funds come mostly from money generated by oil-drilling leases.

Most of that money will be spent to buy parkland in the Florida Everglades and in Yellowstone National Park. But on Friday, the White House approved a request by Sherman and others to set aside $5.5 million for the Santa Monica Mountains. It will be added to another $1 million that Congress approved last year.

The funding still needs approval by the Senate and House appropriations committees, but Sherman called that a formality.

“It’s really a milestone,” said Paul Edleman, deputy division chief of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which has worked with Sherman and others to acquire the parkland. “This will complete a super regional feature.”

A dozen parcels scattered along the uncompleted trail west of Agoura Hills will be purchased. The new land will cut a path through the mountains until it meets up with the completed trail just inside the Ventura County line.

If all goes as planned, the parcels will be purchased and the entire 70-mile trail will be completed and opened to the public in a year, said Arthur Eck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

“We are going to jump right on it as soon as we get the green light,” he said.

Eck and Sherman said they expect no problems negotiating the purchase of the 400 acres because the land is mostly inaccessible and difficult to develop for any other use besides parkland.

If any of the landowners decide to hold up the project during the negotiations, Sherman said the National Park Service or the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy can turn to action through eminent domain.

“This is not the middle of Montana where you can build a national park by buying a few big ranches,” Sherman said. “It’s a very complicated process.”

The news was hailed as a boon to hikers, as well as to wildlife that will be able to use the corridor to migrate, hunt and thrive.

“When you put together a continuous trail corridor, it guarantees a wildlife corridor,” Edleman said.

Perhaps the happiest person to hear of the funding was former City Councilman Marvin Braude, who has been one of the city’s staunchest advocates for preserving parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains.

“It’s just thrilling to me,” said Braude, an environmentalist who hikes existing portions of the Backbone Trail on a regular basis.

“From the beginning it’s been a dream of mine that there would be a hiking trail throughout the whole ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains,” he said.

“It will be one of the great attractions for people who want an outdoor wilderness experience.”

To enhance that experience, Eck said, the National Park Service is considering plans to develop eight overnight campsites along the trail.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who has also been a vocal advocate for preserving parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains, called the Backbone Trail “one of the most spectacular hikes in the United States.”

In the political arena, the funding is expected to give Sherman a much-needed boost in his reelection campaign this year. Sherman, a freshman congressman, represents a “swing district” that the Republican Party has targeted as part of a strategy to retain control of the House.

Sherman is expected to face a tough challenge from Republican Randy Hoffman, a millionaire businessman from Thousand Oaks.

Parke Skelton, Sherman’s campaign consultant, acknowledged that Sherman’s efforts in preserving the parkland will play a role in the campaign.

“I’m sure we are going to let people know what he has done in Congress,” he said. “This is one of his major accomplishments.”

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Building a Trail

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) announced Tuesday that $5.5 million in federal funding will be used to buy key parcels along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains, completing the 70-mile Backbone Trail from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu in Ventura County. This is in addition to $1 million approved in last year’s budget. Environmentalists expect the trail will be one of the most popular recreational sites in the region. The corridor will also provide an important access route for wildlife that migrate throughout the area.

Backbone by the numbers

* Started: 1978

* Eventual length: 70 miles

* Remaining land to be purchased: 12 parcels totaling about 400 acres.

* Money available for land purchase: About $6.5 million

* Agencies that have acquired land along trail: National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

Source: Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy