NEWHALL LAND GIVING 163 ACRES TO PROTECT RIVER.

Byline: Daily News

VALENCIA - The Newhall Land and Farming Company has handed over 163 acres of San Francisquito Creek to the state for protection, part of what the firm says is a long-term effort to protect waterways near its developments.

Newhall Land is building homes and other projects along the creek bed, a tributary of the Santa Clara River, but announced last week it was granting a conservation easement to the California Department of Fish and Game.

The easement is part of a program that will ultimately lead to permanent protection of all of Newhall Land's riverbed landholdings, company officials said.

The action brings to 427 acres - more than one-third of Newhall Land's 1,200 acres of riverbed within its Valencia Natural River Management Plan area - the river area designated for protection.

In December 2000, a conservation easement covering 264 acres of Santa Clara River bed and adjacent uplands was granted to Fish and Game.

``With this conservation easement, all of our landholdings along San Francisquito Creek are now protected and preserved,'' said Mark Subbotin, senior vice president, planning and environmental resources for Newhall Land. ``This is very significant natural habitat, which can now offer a permanently protected home to endangered species and other native plants, fish and animals, as well as serve as a wildlife corridor to the Angeles National Forest.''

Under the easement, the property must be retained forever in a natural condition, subject to the conditions of the Natural River Management Plan.

Ultimately, 2,000 acres of Newhall Land riverbed and riverside landholdings will be protected by conservation easements under the company's river management plan, the Newhall Ranch Specific Plan and agreements tied to the development of the Valencia Commerce Center. Portions of the Santa Clara River and its South Fork, San Francisquito Creek and Castaic Creek are covered in the plans.

As part of its plan for river conservation, Newhall Land has been working to remove arundo donax, a fast-spreading, invasive, non-native plant that overtakes the native habitat of willows, cottonwoods and other plant species.

All the arundo has been cleared from our San Francisquito Creek landholdings in the lower 2.3 miles of the watershed, Subbotin said.

``We hope that our efforts, coupled with arundo removal activities being conducted by the United States Forest Service and other landowners in the upper parts of the watershed, will result in the San Francisquito Creek watershed becoming the first drainage in Southern California where this invasive weed has been completely eradicated,'' he said.