Open Space

Re “Saving Natural California,” editorial, May 4: I’m a native Californian and love this state with a passion, because there is so much special and wonderful here. But the saddest and most frustrating thing has been the wholesale disappearance of exquisite natural countryside and farmland in county after county. Your editorial rightly points out that feverish urban development will consume the remaining beauty of this state, unless something on a large scale is done to prevent it.

The Legislature must break free of the grip of big-developer interests. Our children, grandchildren--everyone--need to experience natural beauty for their well-being and for their souls’ renewal.

The state needs to allocate large sums of revenue to buy threatened scenic areas; and the counties coordinating with the Legislature must devise comprehensive zoning maps and ordinances with the intention of creating buffer zones of protected natural landscape and farmlands between urban areas.

WALTER R. DOMINGUEZ

Los Angeles