RIDERS FEAR LOSS OF RANGE; GOLFERS MAY WIN LEASE AT WILD PARK.Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer Atop his horse Squadkar on a trail meandering through the wild beauty of Happy Camp Regional Park, Moorpark resident Wendall Hildebrandt feared that golf may take the place of horses, hikers and bikers on a 700-acre chunk of the county-owned land. ``That's what Moorpark really needs is another golf course,'' said Hildebrandt sarcastically. Hildebrandt is one of scores of equestrians and others who regularly unwind in the 3,700-acre park, just northeast of the city and home to mountain lions, deer, bobcats and other wildlife, occasionally including a bear. Hildebrandt's daughter, Judieann, was riding nearby on her quarter horse, Mr. Jingle Jangles. ``There's not a whole lot of places like this,'' he said in the shade of an oak tree, while his horse enjoyed a respite from the heat. The riding trail is wide and well maintained, near Moorpark but seemingly far from civilization. About half a mile wide, the park stretches along Happy Camp Canyon for about seven miles. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1979 and dedicated to the acquisition of land in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, north and west of Los Angeles, for preservation as open manages the northern 3,000 acres for the county. In the park's southern reaches, dirt roads wind past open grassland grassland see grazing (2), pasture. bordered by low hills and eucalyptus eucalyptus (y  'kəlĭp`təs): see myrtle. eucalyptus trees, planted by settlers. Further north are many native plants, such as coastal sagebrush sagebrush, name for several species of Artemisia, deciduous shrubs of the family Asteraceae (aster family), particularly abundant in arid regions of W North America. The common sagebrush (A. and live oak, black walnut black walnut see juglans nigra. and elderberry elderberry, n Latin names: Sambucus nigra, Sambucus canadensis; parts used: buds, fruit; uses: common cold, toothaches, headaches, diaphoresis, hay fever, sinus infections, epidermal irritations, lacerations, liver disorders, inflammation; trees. The park is open only for daytime use. Last week, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. gave partners Ralph Mahan and Craig Price an option to come up with details on their proposal to lease part of the southern 700 acres of the park and develop an 18-hole course. Mahan and Price got a one-year option for $25,000, with the possibility of a 12-month extension. Mahan and Price did not return telephone calls for comment. Officials said they submitted the only response to the county's request for proposals for the parcel. If the golf course is developed, horse riders and hikers will still have access to the northern 3,000 acres but possibly along a different route, parks spokesman Andy Oshita said. ``We'll make sure there are corridors or easements EASEMENTS, estates. An easement is defined to be a liberty privilege or advantage, which one man may have in the lands of another, without profit; it may arise by deed or prescription. Vide 1 Serg. & Rawle 298; 5 Barn. & Cr. 221; 3 Barn. & Cr. 339; 3 Bing. R. 118; 3 McCord, R. for these types of activities to continue,'' said Oshita, parks manager in the county's General Services Agency. Revenue from the golf course could be used to maintain the rest of the park's character, he said. ``The Ventura County Parks Department has been directed to generate our own revenues to keep parks open,'' without money from the county's general fund, he said. John Johnston
About 3,000 acres of the park will remain wild, he said. `It's not the most dramatic scenery you'd move into, but we want to keep it as part of our past - before all the housing and development moved in,'' Johnston said. Biologist Matt Ingamells said he has found no endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. of plants or animals in the section of the park where the golf course would be developed. He said he searched futilely for rare Lyon's pentachaeta, which usually grows to a height of two to three inches along ridge tops and produces flowers in the spring. ``We went out here early in May but we didn't find it,'' said Ingamells, who works for Ventura-based Padre Associates, commissioned by the county to assess the animal, plant and environmental resources of the southern 700 acres. Ingamells said he has found signs of a wide variety of wildlife in the park, however, including mountain lions. ``It may look kind of barren, but it isn't,'' he said. ``If it's big enough to support mountain lions, it's big enough to support any other wildlife that's native to the area.'' Ingamells said the park is home to cactus wrens and Western whiptail lizards, which state biologists have been monitoring. ``They're declining enough (in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers. See also: Number ) that they want to keep an eye on to watch. - Shak. See also: Eye 'em,'' he said. The park is not environmentally unique, but an example of a type of land where homes have been developed, he added. ``Maybe it will become unique,'' he said. Hildebrandt fears that horses will lose their place in the park if the golf course is developed. ``It always happens,'' he said. ``They're afraid the horses will get around on the greens and stuff.'' He Squadkar and Mr. Jingle Jangles obviously enjoy the trail. ``It's a nice shady trail, and they don't have to work so hard,'' he said. ``It's a great place to be.'' |
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