[CINC] LA Times: President Bush signs bill to consider expansion of Santa Monica Mountains NRA

[Clare Fritzsche]

Los Angeles (CA) Times
Friday, May 9, 2008

resident Bush signs bill to consider expansion of Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area
A team will study the value of adding land from the Rim of the Valley
Corridor, but such a review could take years.
By James Hohmann
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- - The federal government on Thursday took the first step
toward a massive expansion of the Santa Monica Mountains National
Recreation
Area as President Bush signed legislation ordering the Interior Department
to consider making additions to the protected area.

A team based in Oakland will study the value of adding pieces of the
sprawling 490,000-acre Rim of the Valley Corridor, an area that weaves
around the Los Angeles Basin and includes parts of the Santa Monica, Santa
Susanna, San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains.

Completing a feasibility study with public comments may take years, and
Congress would need to approve any change to the recreation area's size,
currently 153,000 acres. Even then, the high cost of land could limit
expansion.

"If we don't act now with some foresight, those beautiful open-space areas
are going to be gone," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), acknowledging the
"long road" ahead. "It's what drew a lot of people to our area. Once it's
gone, it's gone."

An expansion would be the first time the federal government has
significantly stepped up its conservation efforts in the Los Angeles area
since 1978, when the recreation area was created.

"This bill will allow the [National] Park Service to study ways we can link
up existing parklands [and] work with local governments, other state
agencies and federal agencies to ensure a cohesive system of wildlife
trails," said Rorie Skei, chief deputy director of the Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy.

Environmentalists hailed the move as a way to protect diminishing open
space
and vanishing biodiversity, but some landowners and developers expressed
concerns about excessive government interference.

The American Land Rights Assn., based in Battle Ground, Wash., calculated
that the corridor includes 158,000 landowners in Los Angeles County and
11,000 in Ventura County. Executive Director Chuck Cushman promised to
fight
any "land grab."

The National Park Service promised that no property would be taken under
eminent domain.

There is no assurance that new land will come under federal control as a
result of Thursday's action.

Smeck said about two-thirds of such studies do not result in expanded park
service involvement.

james.hohmann at latimes.com