TOPANGA PARKLAND A TRUE DREAM COME TRUE.

Byline: Harriet Burgess Local View

CALIFORNIA has a golden opportunity to add 1,659 acres of prime coastal property to Topanga State Park, creating a first-ots-kind linkage between the mountain park and the lower arroyos, beaches and lagoon.

This rare acquisition is possible because Gov. Gray Davis allocated money in this year's budget for California State Parks to purchase private property from willing sellers.

The $43 million that will be spent to acquire the site is exactly the use voters intended last year when they approved Proposition 12 - a $2.1 billion bond measure for investments in public lands.

It's difficult to imagine a better, more appropriate or enduring investment than this.

For decades, federal, state and local park officials have been assembling extensive parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains. This natural treasure has grown over the years as funding has gradually been matched with purchase opportunities. Still, more than half of the Santa Monica Mountains is privately owned, much already developed and the rest could potentially be developed.

Adding this magnificent piece of property to Topanga State Park will enlarge the existing park by 15 percent, making it the first state park in Los Angeles County to extend from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean.

The addition of Lower Topanga Canyon to the park would also create a gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a federal, state and local partnership that sees over 33 million recreational visits per year, the second-most-visited park in the United States.

In addition to the recreational opportunities created by the park expansion, there are tremendous environmental and ecological benefits.

Already, research is under way to understand the potential restoration opportunities at the lagoon where Topanga Creek empties into the ocean. Once a thriving wetland that covered more than 15 acres, ... the lagoon occupies just one acre today, the victim of road construction and development.

Restoring and expanding the lagoon to its natural state will help improve water quality in the Santa Monica Bay, help a struggling population of steelhead trout thrive in Topanga Creek and provide enhanced habitat for species that rely on coastal wetlands.

Further inland, indigenous species listed as threatened - such as the California gnatcatcher and Braunton's milk vetch, a flowering plant - will gain a permanent, protected environment that will help stabilize their population.

The private owners of this property have agreed to sell it to the American Land Conservancy for transfer to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. The American Land Conservancy has been working with the owner on this acquisition for more than two years.

Acquisition of a property this size in the Santa Monica Mountains is almost unprecedented. This acquisition will create a mountains-to-the-sea park easily accessible to the 10 million residents of the Los Angeles Basin. It will protect the viewshed and secure a huge habitat for a wide range of plants, animals and fish.

It will also result in tremendous new recreational opportunities in Topanga State Park: Hikers, bikers and equestrians will finally have access from any starting point in the area to the park's ridgeline peaks, creekside trails and sandy beaches.

State Parks has been eyeing this property for more than two decades, hoping to one day purchase it and complete its long-held plans for Topanga State Park. Today, with a willing seller, funds from Proposition 12 and a public that has made acquiring more parkland a top priority for park- starved Los Angeles, we are on the verge of making that dream a reality.

This purchase makes good sense - for the environment, for the public and for our future.