80-ACRE GIFT COULD HELP AREA MUSEUM LAND INCLUDES PIUTE BUTTE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles-area property owner has donated 80 acres of desert adjoining the Antelope Valley Indian Museum.

If the state Parks Department accepts the donation from Dr. William Trieger, it would expand the park land around the museum to 390 acres, covering most of rocky Piute Butte.

``It has some problems in terms of trash dumping over the years, but it's a nice piece of property with a lot of open (space) around it,'' said Paul Edelman, an official with the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, to which Trieger donated the land.

The authority governing board last week authorized acceptance of the property for transfer to the state Parks Department. Completing the transfer is likely to take months, officials said.

The museum property now consists of about 310 acres on the southern slopes of Piute Butte. Eighty acres belongs to the state Parks Department and the rest is leased by the state from the federal Bureau of Land Management, with the intention of it eventually being transferred to the state.

The conservation authority suggested that the new land could be used for a parking lot and a trailhead, but the state Parks Department hasn't decided what to do with it.

``We're going to have to take a look at it,'' said John Crossman, resource ecologist for the state park's Mojave Desert sector, which runs the museum and other state parks around the Antelope Valley.

Before the donation will be accepted as park land, state officials will check to make sure it isn't encumbered with liens or contaminated with hazardous waste.

The conservation authority intends to clean up the trash before turning the land over to the state, Edelman said.

Located south of Avenue K-8 at 160th Street East, the donated land is mostly flat and covered with rabbit brush, creosote bushes and scattered Joshua trees, but includes the lower slopes of the butte.

Trieger has donated property once before.

``He knew of us and gave us a call,'' Edelman said.

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority is a joint-powers agency created by the Conejo and Rancho Simi recreation and parks districts, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Its mission is to protect land in Southern California's mountains.

The Indian museum was established as a state park in 1979. The museum building itself was constructed in 1928 by artist H. Arden Edwards as a home for himself, his wife and teen-age son.

Some of the lumber and other building materials came from movie studios where Edwards worked.

Edwards started the museum's collection of American Indian artifacts and it was added to by Grace Oliver, who in 1939 purchased the home and collections when Edwards moved back to the Los Angeles area. The state acquired the property and the collections in 1979.

CAPTION(S):

map

Map: Donated Land