$50 MILLION TO RESTORE GRIFFITH PARK SCHWARZENEGGER TOURS BURNED ACREAGE, PRAISES FIREFIGHTERS.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW

Staff Writer

As parts of Griffith Park were set to reopen today, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Los Angeles officials Friday to announce a $50 million plan to restore the fire-ravaged area over three years.

"I'm someone who loves this park," Schwarzenegger said before morning news cameras near the shuttered Greek Theatre. "I've shot a lot of my 'Terminator' movies right here, 1, 2 and 3. To see those very same places where we were, where we film, destroyed, was very hard to take."

The fire that began Tuesday and consumed 817 acres was expected to be fully contained by Friday night. To all appearances, fire officials said, it appeared to be out.

The governor praised the valiant efforts of firefighters who saved hundreds of homes and much of the nation's largest urban park, including such treasured historic landmarks as the Hollywood sign, the Greek, the Griffith Observatory and the L.A. Zoo.

By Christmas, he said, he would "determine what resources we have available to restore this magnificent park."

While the governor said money could come from billions in recently passed parks and flood-control bonds, newly elected Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, vowed to pass a bill to help finance restoration.

"I'll be fighting for it," he said from Griffith Park. "This is my district, I grew up here, this is a top priority."

Restoring the park won't come cheaply, according to the city.

A preliminary estimate for Griffith Park restoration released Friday said it will cost $50 million to stabilize slopes, repair facilities and replant the park over three years.

By July, the city plans to spend $5 million removing debris and designing ways to control erosion of the brush-denuded burn areas.

By December, it plans to spend another $20 million stabilizing slopes and repairing flood control systems.

By 2010, it expects to spend another $25 million to plant trees, repair trails, build roads and restore natural habitat, as well as rebuild such panoramic lookouts as Dante's View and Captain's Roost.

"We know in eight months we're going to have rain," said Jon Mukri, general manager of the Department of Recreation and Parks. "In the last big fire, we had up to 14 feet of mud race down the canyons."

As a special gesture to the city, Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt cut a check for $100,000 toward park restoration.

"It's a source of civic pride, it's a place for all to gather, a civic treasure," Frank McCourt told reporters.

Park officials announced that the north and east sections of the park -- including Travel Town and the zoo -- would be open today, with the historic merry-go-round adjacent to the burn area off limits to visitors.

By Mother's Day, roads leading to the Forest Lawn cemetery are expected to open.

But all hiking will be canceled until further notice.

"We've got to discourage people from coming up here. It's dangerous," Mukri said. "The fire seems to be out, but there is a lot of trees and falling rocks that can do a lot of damage."

As part of Friday's press event, Schwarzenegger joined city officials to tour the ashes. Heading south from a blackened Mount Hollywood, the governor and his entourage drove a mile east of the Greek.

Past Aberdeen Canyon, where some say the fire was ignited by a burning cigarette.

Past barren hills denuded of everything but ash and the scrawny skeletons of live oak trees. Past catch basins filled with soot.

Schwarzenegger, accompanied by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilman Tom LaBonge, emerged from his van on the south slope of the park, directly above a historic nursery saved by firefighters.

He trudged slowly, thoughtfully, silently, inhaling the pungent remains of what had once been lush ceanothus, toyon and sage.

For nearly 100 feet, he walked, looking at scorched earth and listening to LaBonge's much-repeated description of how "the fire danced like Mick Jagger on stage -- boom, boom, boom!"

How fire roared Tuesday toward Los Feliz, threatening such mansions as the Lautner home once featured in "L.A. Confidential."

How the fire had turned around and raced up Mount Hollywood, torching Dante's View and its tree-lined garden.

And how water-dropping helicopters had worked through the night to save the day.

"This is amazing," Schwarzenegger said, looking toward downtown L.A. in the distance. "It (the fire) actually stopped there. This is the work of the firefighters. If you think about it, we had this really incredible fire ... and it didn't take everything out."

Then he pointed to a partially burned oak and added: "This is obviously the tree that stopped it all."

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

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