CANYON RESERVE GETS OK; ASSEMBLY APPROVES SAVING WHITNEY TRAILS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

About 420 acres in rustic Whitney Canyon would be preserved and open to hikers under legislation unanimously approved this week by the state Assembly.

Just south of Santa Clarita, with its terminus at the south end of San Fernando Road, Whitney has been eyed for various purposes, from residential development to an off-road vehicle park to an access way for what would have been one of the nation's largest landfills.

But public outcry has won out, and the canyon filled with oaks, waterfalls, wildlife and blooming plants will be added - if the state Senate and governor approve - to a far-reaching network of nature trails.

``I've seen pictures - it's really beautiful,'' said Rebekah Warren, an aide to Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, who authored the bill.

Runner proposed enveloping Whitney Canyon in the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor, a 100-mile system of trails and parks that stretches from Moorpark in Ventura County to Sierra Madres near Pasadena. The bill, so far, is unopposed.

The legislation is especially important to nearby Santa Clarita because the city at present has no say over development near its borders, Runner said.

``This bill will assist the city of Santa Clarita in its endeavors to protect the land surrounding its borders'' Runner said in a statement. ``This is a huge victory.''

The trail corridor omitted the area around Whitney in the mid-1980s because of a now-abandoned plan to build a landfill in adjacent Elsmere Canyon. At one point, Whitney was considered an access point to the 100 million-ton dump. Later, Los Angeles County parks officials considered building an off-road vehicle park in Whitney.

Last year, Runner sought to include Elsmere as well as Whitney in the Rim of the Valley, but the move was defeated because a smaller landfill is still a possibility.

Runner's bill faces committee hearings in the Senate in the coming weeks, and if approved will continue on to a full Senate vote.

Assembly Bill 339 is sponsored by the city of Santa Clarita with support from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority, and The Walt Disney Co., which runs a filming ranch in neighboring Placerita Canyon.