Professor Agrees to Repair Bulldozed Slope

A prominent UCLA professor whose do-it-yourself bulldozing project sent dirt and rocks tumbling into a scenic mountain stream and onto state parkland has been ordered to begin a $1-million cleanup project.

Biology professor Winston Salser pleaded no contest Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of illegal alteration of a stream bed with the earthmoving above Rustic Canyon Creek in Pacific Palisades.

Salser used his own equipment to bulldoze hundreds of tons of earth from a steep, two-acre slope next to Casale Road, where he intends to build a home.

But the earthmoving, which began about four years ago, angered neighbors and state officials when dirt and debris slid off Salser’s property and into the stream and Topanga State Park.

Last year, the city of Los Angeles apologized for letting Salser act “like a little kid in a sandbox,” as one official put it. The city’s Building and Safety Commission ordered a halt to the bulldozing until a geologists could determine how to stabilize the hillside.

Salser, a founder of the pioneering genetic engineering firm Amgen, promised Thursday that he will work with city engineers and state officials to repair the slope.

Municipal Judge Stephen A. Marcus ordered Salser to pay $22,800 to the state Department of Fish and Game for habitat and wildlife conservation in the area, an additional $16,000 to cover state park costs, plus $7,200 in fines.

Prosecutor Maureen O’Brien said Salser’s grading caused five 1997 landslides that left dirt in Rustic Canyon Creek. She said the cleanup is expected to cost more than $1 million.

Salser will be subject to continuous inspection as he restores the canyon site, O’Brien said. “And I’m sure the neighbors will be keeping an eye on it.”

That’s for sure, said Nina Rosenfield, president of the neighborhood’s Upper Riviera Homeowners Assn.

“We feel a sense of relief,” she said Friday. “But we’ll be vigilant.”

Salser could not be reached for comment Friday. But his lawyer said Salser will comply with the order.

Attorney Paul Kelley suggested that Salser’s project--which was to include landscaped terraces containing 50 species of native grasses, shrubs and flowers--has been misunderstood by neighbors.

“A lot of people have worked very hard to demonize Winston Salser,” Kelley said.