LANCASTER SEEKS TO PROTECT FUTURE OF JOSHUA TREES.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer City officials expect to begin reviewing plans this week for improvements to the Prime Desert Woodlands, the municipal nature preserve containing Joshua trees Joshua tree: see yucca. , California junipers and sand dunes sand dune Hill, mound, or ridge of windblown sand or other loose material such as clay particles. Dunes are commonly associated with desert regions and seacoasts, and there are large areas of dunes in nonglacial parts of Antarctica. . The first phase will include construction of a 42-space parking lot, a 5,060-square-foot interpretative in·ter·pre·ta·tive adj. Variant of interpretive. in·ter  pre·ta center, trails, shaded rest areas and interpretative signs for 55 acres in an area from Avenue K, adjacent to Rawley Duntley Park, to an area south of Avenue K-8, east of Nancy Cory School. ``We go out for bids in December for phase one,'' said Lyle Norton, Lancaster's director of Parks, Recreation and Arts. ``We'll award a bid in February and start construction.'' Lancaster allocated $1.1 million in its 1996-97 budget for improvements to the preserve, established in the late 1980s after years of lobbying by community residents concerned about saving the Antelope Valley's most distinctive vegetation. Eventually, the preserve will cover about 90 acres in an area bordered roughly by Avenues K-4 and K-8 between 33rd Street West and 40th Street West. The second phase, estimated to cost $300,000, will create more trails and an observation deck Ob`ser`va´tion deck 1. A room or platform at a high point in a tall building with a broad view of the surrounding area. It is often an outdoor platform, but is sometimes indoors in a room with large windows to accommodate viewing. . Lancaster is slated to receive $1 million for the woodlands under proposition A, the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Safe Neighborhood Parks Neighborhood parks, which generally range in size up to 30 acres, serve as a social and recreational focal points for neighborhoods and are the basic units of a park system. Many include a playground. Act. The money could go toward acquiring the rest of the property the city wants for the preserve. The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. that supports creating parks and open space areas, is working with the city in acquiring the remaining land. The organization has the ability to provide incentives such as tax breaks to assist in acquiring the land, Norton said. A master plan prepared for the woodlands project calls for an interpretative center with exhibits, an indoor amphitheater, an observation deck and offices. Boardwalks, slightly elevated in some areas, will weave though the preserve. The push for preservation of the Joshua tree woodlands began as the city experienced a population boom in the 1980s, when the city grew from 48,000 people to 102,000. A 1988 city study recommended buying the woodlands, saying that the existing regulations would have left the city with small plots of Joshua trees scattered among the homes. |
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