REGION'S OPEN SPACES WORTH FIGHTING FOR CONGRESS INTERESTED IN PROTECTING VALLEY MOUNTAINS AS URBAN PARK.

Byline: Adam B. Schiff and Dianne Feinstein Local View

Aquarter of a century ago, members of Congress recognized the tremendous potential for population growth in Southern California.

They saw a burgeoning Los Angeles County with millions of new residents flocking to the area to participate in the growing economy, to enjoy the sunny weather, and to be surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains, forests and ocean.

They understood also that many of the open spaces would be developed, homes would push up into the hills and a tremendous strain would be placed on the region's resources.

And so they established the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the largest urban park in the nation. This recreation area has served our region well, providing breathtaking vistas, extensive hiking trails and a home for one of the most endangered habitat areas in the world - the Mediterranean Chaparral ecosystem, found only here and in South Africa. This rare habitat and wildlife corridor is teeming with a greater diversity of life than all others but a rain forest.

Over the past two decades, population growth has exceeded all expectation.

Development in Ventura, San Fernando and San Gabriel continues at a remarkable pace, and our region now has one of the lowest ratios of park- and-recreation lands per thousand of the population of any area in the nation.

Unless action is taken soon - unless we can display the same vision of that earlier period - we will lose the treasure of California's open space and environmental beauty.

That is why we have introduced the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act, a measure which would call on the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service to study the potential doubling of the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley.

The Rim of the Valley consists of parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Susana Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains, the San Rafael Hills and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino national forests.

Our bill would improve efforts to preserve fragile ecosystems and wildlife, and maintain open space for the 10 million residents of Greater Los Angeles to enjoy.

The study would take three years to complete, and would include extensive public comment and input from the entire region. Subsequent legislation would be required by Congress to implement any of the recommendations of the study.

Because the study would determine whether some or all of the Rim of the Valley should be included in the existing recreation area, and the recreation area has no power of condemnation or eminent domain, any increases to the public lands in the expanded park would have to come from willing sellers.

These lands could be brought within public protection through the use of voluntary incentives, respecting at all times the legitimate private property values of existing landowners.

Since the establishment of the existing park in 1978, federal, state and local authorities have worked in extraordinary cooperation to manage these resources and have successfully partnered with the private sector.

The state of California has been a significant player in efforts to preserve the Rim of the Valley, and has adopted a Rim of the Valley Master Plan.

Working with local governments in the area, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (a state agency) has endeavored to protect the unique natural and recreational resources in the area.

However, these efforts are hampered by a lack of financial resources, technical assistance and resource-management expertise that can be provided by the federal government.

Recently, the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act came before the Senate Resources Committee and passed with strong bipartisan support.

In the House, the bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, Brad Sherman, David Dreier, Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, Hilda Solis and others. The National Park Service testified in favor of the measure, and we are working to speed its passage in both houses.

A quarter of a century from now, we hope Angelenos will look back and recognize our time as one in which we provided a vision for the future.

The Rim of the Valley Corridor encircling the San Fernando and La Crescenta valleys provides important scenic, environmental, recreational, educational, scientific and economic benefits to the greater Southern California area and must be preserved for the benefit of future generations.