NEWHALL LAND GIFT 150 ACRES TO BE PARK OF MUCH LARGER PARK.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Some 150 acres of grassy hills studded with oaks will be transferred before the end of the year to a newly formed conservation agency, the first installment of what over the next 20 years is to become a 6,000-acre preserve.

Set aside in increments as Newhall Land and Farming Company builds its giant Newhall Ranch development, the preserve ultimately will be nearly 10 square miles, larger than L.A.'s Griffith Park, offering residents outdoor opportunities from hiking and camping to horseback riding.

``One hundred years from now, wall-to-wall houses (would have occupied) what we take for granted as open space,'' said Joseph Edmiston, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy's executive director. ``Oak trees will be such a precious remnant of the way California was when the Gold Rush happened.''

The land will be managed by the Newhall Ranch High Country Recreation and Conservation Authority, a partnership between the city, Los Angeles County and the conservancy.

The 6,000 acres will be donated by Newhall Land under agreements with the county for approving the Westridge tract and the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch development, planned west of the city and sprawling to the Ventura County line.

The first 150 acres is west of The Old Road, near the Westridge development.

``The long-term goal is to connect the Newhall Ranch high country and the Michael D. Antonovich Preserve with the Jouquin Ranch above Chatsworth and other open space in the Santa Clarita Valley into one seamless network of open space,'' said Paul Novak, a deputy for county Supervisor Antonovich. ``This is a big piece of the puzzle.''

Public land in the Santa Susanas ranges from Simi Valley to the Santa Clara River to the west. This donation girds the greenbelt city officials envision encircling the valley, along with Santa Clarita Woodlands Park, Towsley Canyon, Mentryville and the Angeles Forest.

Fifty miles of trails will link the wildlands to walkways in Newhall Ranch.

A $2 million endowment created by the developer to manage the land will be supplemented by $24-a-year special assessments paid by homeowners in the new tracts, said Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer.

One difference between this assessment and the city's recent failed proposal to collect $25 a year from property owners to fund park and open space purchases is that the homeowners agree to the fee when they buy their homes.

The nonprofit Center for Natural Lands Management, which protects sensitive natural areas, will maintain the land, overseen by the authority.

Habitat destroyed by cattle grazing and oil and natural gas drilling will be restored, Lauffer said.

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Laurene Weste, a champion of open space and trail links, was one of the original instigators of this project more than a decade ago.

``This leaves a legacy for the future,'' she said. ``This could easily have been graded down.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) A park ranger walks through an oak grove on his way to a news conference where Greg McWilliams, president of Newhall Land, announced the joint-powers authority that will manage the preserve.

(2) Greg McWilliams, president of Newhall Land, announces the joint-powers authority that will manage a 150-acre preserve. The land, which eventually will be part of a much larger preserve, will be kept in its natural state except for hiking trails.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer