BUDGET WOES MAY CLOSE NATURE CENTER.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Every time a school group comes in to check out the barn owls and the bugs, the youngsters get a little lesson in civics.

Volunteers from the Placerita Nature Center Associates have taken advantage of the frequent visitors to ask teachers, school children and any number of guests to write letters or sign petitions to keep the bustling center open and in the hands of the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department.

A proposal before the Board of Supervisors recommends that the board save $2.8 million by canceling its contracts to run the state-owned parks in Placerita and Castaic Lake. Currently, that contract is a month-to-month arrangement, and a refusal by the state to accept the park might result in a closure.

County workers said they would not know anything until June 30, when the county's budget is expected to be finalized. Their feeling was that the park would not be locked up, but that nothing was sure.

Roger McClure, a member of the Nature Center Associates on duty Friday, said that the workers appreciate everything that the county parks staff does and pledged that volunteers are working to maintain the status quo.

Petitions and form letters are strategically placed in the museum and administrative areas. McClure said that more than 1,000 signatures were on the last petition forwarded to Fifth District Supervisor Michael Antonovich.

``We had a group of four people who spoke before the Board of Supervisors, and they seemed responsive,'' McClure said. ``They asked some questions and wanted more information. We've received good feedback from people coming in. Some of them have sent out our letter to their mailing lists.''

He said that letters of support have also been sent from the city of Santa Clarita and the local Audubon Society. But the pending closure has forced the park volunteers and staff to cut back programs and stop taking reservations - just in case.

``If the park closed, we'd have to secure the building somehow so the party people don't get in,'' McClure added.

That concern goes all the way up to Sacramento, where state Parks Deputy Director Roy Stearns pondered the fate of the park during both the county's and state's fiscal crisis.

``We don't want it to close, but a temporary closure might be necessary to maintain the safety of the park. If there was no one there, it might fall into the hands of the wrong element,'' he said.

The fate of the park's animals also hangs in the balance. Most are old or so accustomed to human interaction that they would not survive in the wild. Adding to that difficulty is the current quarantine for Exotic Newcastle Disease, which would prohibit the transfer of any of the park's fowl.

Stearns said that there are people working on the problem on both ends, but that a solution is still not in sight.

``We're still working on it,'' he said. ``If it comes to Los Angeles not having enough money, then we will try to submit for more money from the state, but money is the key critical problem. How do you get more blood out of this turnip?

``A lot depends on whether Los Angeles County has a budget on June 30 and if the state has a budget on June 30,'' he said. ``A lot of people don't think we will have one. If the governor's budget passes, there is a good chance to keep the park open, but if it doesn't, we're going to be cutting parks we already have. But nothing's a done deal yet.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Younger visitors enjoy the surroundings of the Placerita Nature Center, which may be closed due to budget cuts.

(2) Roger McClure, a docent at the center, discusses the ramifications of closing.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer