COMPLETION FUNDED OF BACKBONE TRAIL.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

More than $6 million in federal money has been allocated to buy parkland that will complete the 63-mile Backbone Trail through the Santa Monica Mountains, officials said Tuesday.

Part of a $699 million federal funding package for park projects nationwide, the $6.5 million earmarked for the Backbone Trail will help purchase more than 350 acres - land that is needed to bridge a nine-mile gap in the trail that straddles Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

``This money ensures an alignment for the Backbone Trail,'' said Art Eck, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

``When this trail is complete, it will not only be the premier recreational resource of the Santa Monica Mountains but also a significant wildlife corridor,'' Eck said. ``Without these kinds of connections, significant wildlife populations could decrease or disappear altogether.''

At a news conference overlooking the eastern span of the Backbone Trail, Eck joined U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman in announcing $5.5 million had just been allocated to the project, in addition to $1 million earmarked last year.

``This is not the middle of Montana, where you can go and buy a few ranches and create a national park. This is a very valuable and complicated project on the fringe of a major metropolitan area that we've all worked hard to complete,'' said Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, a member of the House Budget Committee and chief proponent of funding the Backbone Trail.

This year's allocation promises to link parkland from Will Rogers State Historic Park in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles to Point Mugu on the Ventura County coast.

Sherman said he was notified Monday of the Clinton administration's decision to allocate money for the Backbone Trail. The allocation is expected to be confirmed by the appropriations committee within six weeks.

The money is critical in the acquisition of the 350 to 400 acres needed to bridge a series of seven gaps totaling 8.8 miles along the Backbone Trail. Although incomplete, the path draws about 2 million hikers each year and serves as a major corridor for the bobcats, deer, jackrabbits and other wildlife.

Eck said he will be negotiating with about a dozen landowners to acquire the additional parcels for fair market value. He added that the acquisition phase of the project could take one to two years.

A handful of the property owners already have contacted the National Park Service, Eck said. While the organization, a federal entity, could claim the right of eminent domain of properties along the trail, Eck noted that the organization never has used that right and does not anticipate having to do so to complete the Backbone Trail.

The federal pledge to help complete the trail comes some 20 years after local park officials and hiking enthusiasts first started laying out the path. In recent years, a series of private and public efforts have been forged to raise money for its completion. In the past year, the Mountains Conservancy Foundation has raised more than $500,000 in private donations and with matching funds from Proposition A, a park bond initiative passed in Los Angeles County.

``This new money ensures that all the land within the Santa Monica Mountains will be connected by a trail and that the east-to-west wildlife corridor will be in place,'' said Ruth Kilday, the foundation's executive director who spearheaded the Backbone Trail Completion Campaign about two years ago. ``After all these years, the trail will finally be completed.''

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Map: Backbone Trail and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Dionisio Munoz/Daily News