City of los angeles general plan

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

II-30

The emphasis began to shift due to national public interest in

protection of the environment. This concern made possible one of the

most significant measures for protection of habitats and establishment

of public parks in U.S. history, the National Parks and Recreation Act

of 1978, which was engineered by Congressman Philip Burton of San

Francisco. It provided funds for hundreds of parks, trail linkages,

wilderness areas, historic and cultural sites and facilities,

seashores, scenic and wild rivers and other sites throughout the United

States and its territories, including $150 million for the

establishment of the  Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

(SMMNRA).

Until the mid-1990s public land acquisition and dedications often were

opportunistic, resulting in some parcels being isolated from public

access and lacking in wildlife corridors to interconnect habitats,

further species propagation or link recreational uses. A scarcity of

funding, increasing demands for conveniently accessible recreational

opportunities and continuing encroachment into open space areas

resulted in a shift in emphasis from opportunistic acquisition to

securing lands that provide the greatest amount of habitat preservation

and human values.

Today a variety of entities and organizations in the region are working

together to link the existing parcels of public and quasi-public forest

and park land in order to provide permanent wildlife habitats and

habitat corridors, protect native plants and scenic areas, provide

trails and other open space-compatible recreation, enhance the public's

access to views and use of open space, provide research and educational

opportunities, and protect historical, paleontological and

archaeological sites. The largest collection of publicly owned natural

habitats in the city are the parks and publicly owned open spaces in

the San Gabriel, Santa Monica, Verdugo and Santa Susana Mountains.

Significant Ecological Areas (SEAs). SEAs are significant habitats

identified by Los Angeles County as important for the preservation and

maintenance of biodiversity. They were identified and formally

documented by the Regional Planning Commission (1976) to elaborate the

"significant ecological area" provisions contained in the 1972 interim

county general plan (finalized 1980). Each SEA was selected on the

basis of existing known habitats of sensitive or endangered species as

well as sites containing a diversity of native plant and animal

resources. Within the City of Los Angeles all or part of some of the

sites (Exhibit B) are privately owned, some of which have been

developed with structures or other uses. Publicly owned portions of

SEAs generally have been classified in the Open Space Zone and often

are part of public park sites. SEA designations provide an

informational basis for analysis of private projects relative to CEQA

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

II-31

review and guide public and private efforts to develop strategies for

protecting and acquiring existing habitats. For example, in October

1999 the Department of Water and Power agreed to maintain the

Chatsworth reservoir as a natural reserve. Designation of the site as

a SEA assisted efforts to protect it from sale and possible

development. The county is in the process of revising its general plan

and the SEA designations.

Wildlife corridors. Wildlife corridors are land segments that connect

two or more large habitat areas and provide a habitat for movement of

animals between those areas. They encourage protection and health of

animal populations by enabling access to food and broader animal

interchange for healthy species propagation. Loss of corridors

especially impacts large carnivores that need extensive territory for

survival. As freeways and other barriers block corridors and as

habitats shrink, large animals are forced from the city or are unable

to survive.

The most extensive local effort to establish corridor linkages is the

Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor. The corridor plan is based on the

masters thesis of California State University at Northridge student

Marge Feinberg (1974). Her plan was adopted into state law (Public

Resources Code Section 33204.3) in 1990. The act authorizes the Santa

Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency, to work with counties and

cities within the greater Los Angeles area to acquire land and

coordinate efforts to create a continuous necklace of public parks,

habitat corridors and trails which will link the entire mountain system

around the San Fernando and La Crescenta Valleys. One of the prime

features of the plan is creation of permanent habitat corridors to

protect endangered and threatened native plant and animal species.

Another important corridor project is the carnivore study (begun 1996),

which is sponsored by the National Park Service in coordination with

UCLA, the University of Massachusetts and other entities. It is

monitoring large carnivores (including cougars, bobcats and coyotes)

within a 30 square mile portion of the central Santa Monica Mountains

National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) to estimate their chances of long-

term survival in an urbanized environment. The study is providing field

data on which to base protection and management actions and is

assisting in identifying and evaluating additional properties needed

for habitat and corridor preservation and restoration. It has

identified several corridors, including corridors between the Santa

Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills and between the Simi Hills and the

Santa Monica Mountains. Other corridors include connections between the

Santa Monica Mountains and the Verdugo and San Gabriel Mountains.

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