SAVING A DESERT KINGDOM; LANCASTER BREAKS GROUND ON NATURE PRESERVE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Visitors will be able to wander among Joshua trees, California junipers and sand dunes and learn about the high desert's plant and animal inhabitants in a city preserve for which ground was ceremoniously broken Wednesday.

The $1.8 million first phase of the Prime Desert Woodlands Preserve, toward which the city has been working more than 10 years, will cover about 60 acres and will include a 5,060-square-feet visitors center made of recycled materials and straw bales, plus trails, shaded rest areas and interpretive signs.

``This is the city of Lancaster's hidden gem,'' Mayor Frank Roberts said of the woodlands, which was preserved from development into tract homes like those that surround it because of its combination of Joshuas, junipers and creosote bushes. ``This will show future generations the ecosystem of our desert.''

The first phase covers an area from Avenue K, adjacent to Rawley Duntley Park, to an area south of Avenue K-8, east of Nancy Cory Elementary School. The work is expected to be completed by September.

The first-phase project is being funded through a variety of grants, including grants from the Los Angeles County Safe Neighborhood Parks Act and Caltrans' Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation program.

When completed, the preserve will cover nearly 100 acres in an area bordered roughly by Avenues K-4 and K-8 between 33rd and 40th streets west.

Lancaster has acquired more than 70 acres and is in negotiations with various property owners to acquire the remaining portions.

``It looked like it would never come. Now it's really going to happen,'' said Vice Mayor Henry Hearns. ``The whole community is going to be proud of this.''

The push for preservation of woodlands began as the city began to experience a population boom in the 1980s, when Lancaster grew from 48,000 inhabitants to 102,000.

Lancaster officials in 1983 established restrictions on development in the woodlands, including a requirement that developers set aside half their land untouched when they build homes.

The city began buying the woodlands property after a 1988 study said that the existing regulations would have left the city with small plots of Joshua trees scattered among homes.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Crews begin prepping a future nature preserve in Lancaster on Wednesday by installing a water system.

(2--Color) Led by Principal Monique Van, students from Nancy Cory Elementary School stroll through the Lancaster property that will become a nature preserve.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News