RUNNER WADES IN ON DUMP; ELSMERE PROTECTION PITCHED.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

State Assemblyman George Runner on Monday will present a bill he has drafted that would designate Elsmere Canyon, now earmarked as a future dump, as part of a valuable wildlife area called the Rim of the Valley Corridor.

``(Runner) is trying to steer it away from being a landfill,'' said Ginny Ward, an aide to the Lancaster Republican. ``So far, it's looking pretty positive. There's a lot of support for the bill.''

Santa Clarita dump opponents have fought Los Angeles County lawmakers for a decade to get Elsmere Canyon removed from the list of future sites for a landfill.

And though opponents have scored some victories over the years, they suffered a setback last week when the county Board of Supervisors voted to keep Elsmere in its siting element, a landfill plan for the future that is required by the state.

Designation as part of the Rim of the Valley Corridor, which is overseen by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, would not protect Elsmere Canyon from development, including a dump, longtime Elsmere activist Marsha McLean said. Protection can only be guaranteed if the land is publicly owned, she said.

But the corridor designation would help residents understand the importance of the area and perhaps persuade them to join the fight against a landfill there, McLean said. It would also give the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy the power to buy the land if state money is available.

``It's one more step in educating the public of the value of Elsmere Canyon,'' McLean said. ``This is just all part of the process to get public ownership of all of Elsmere Canyon.''

The Rim of the Valley Corridor, which stretches from Moorpark in Ventura County to Sierra Madre east of Pasadena, designates mountain ranges as a zone that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy plans to develop as a system of parks, open space and trails. The ranges are also considered valuable wildlife corridors.

Under Runner's proposal, nearby Whitney Canyon would also be included in the Rim of the Valley Corridor. The canyons overlap the boundaries of the Angeles National Forest, and are envisioned by some as a future site for campgrounds and nature trails.

When the corridor was being considered for expansion in 1990, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Board removed Elsmere and Whitney from the plan under pressure from county officials, said Rorie Skei of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The area had already been set aside by the county as a future dump site.

``What Assemblyman Runner is trying to do is right a past wrong,'' Skei said.