CONSERVANCY BUYING LAND.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will acquire 241 acres of northern Los Angeles County's rolling riparian and chaparral wilderness at wholesale cost within the next two weeks, county officials said.

The environmental conservation group is buying 26 parcels of private property from Sylmar to Santa Clarita and Palmdale through a county program that offers tax defaulted land to public agencies and nonprofit organizations for the public good.

The total price tag for the remote and undeveloped parcels is $89,804.

``Even though it may seem crazy to be buying stuff out there, this is a proactive way to preserve chunks of land at a low cost,'' said Susan Shanks, a project analyst for the conservancy.

The conservancy was created by the state Legislature in 1980, and has since helped preserve more than 55,000 acres of parkland and wilderness.

``The conservancy's mission is to strategically buy back, preserve, protect, restore, and enhance treasured pieces of Southern California to form an interlinking system of urban, rural and river parks, open space, trails, and wildlife habitats that are easily accessible to the general public,'' the organization's Web site reads.

The parcels being acquired - some on desert land, and others thickly vegetated - are located throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, and in some cases beyond, from the San Gabriel Mountains Desert Transition Zone to Lower Kagel Canyon.

A 60-acre parcel is within the conservancy's Santa Clarita Woodlands state park, and an additional 50 acres are in the Towsley Canyon and Pico Canyon areas.

The conservancy will leave the land as it is, as undeveloped open space, which is more valuable than ever, according to Shanks.

The wilderness of the properties ranges from sparse wash habitat to thick coastal shrubbery to juniper woodlands.

``As development increases, we lose habitat for wildlife, recreation, viewsheds and wildlife corridors, and this is a way to protect some of those resources,'' Shanks said.

Tom DiCioccio, a Santa Clarita area environmentalist, was overjoyed by the news.

``I think it's absolutely terrific - the more land we can put in the bank for our children and our children's children the better,'' DiCioccio said. ``The big land developers control politics in this valley and they're going to get away with as much land as they can.''

County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who has been a proponent of valley development, was also pleased to hear about the purchase.

``This program secures the open space necessary to preserve our natural resources, improve our quality of life and provide recreational opportunities vital to our community and future generations,'' Antonovich said.