VOLUNTEERS TO CLEAN UP CREEK BED.

Byline: PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM

Staff Writer

NEWHALL -- Every times it rains in Newhall's breathtaking Whitney Canyon, new mounds of trash surface along a creek that runs through it.

The litter, uncovered by the rain, is from squatters who for some 30 years settled in the canyon and buried their trash along the creek bed, now a focal point in a wilderness preserve, said Diane Erskine-Hellrigel of the Santa Clarita Community Hiking Club.

"There's just piles and piles and piles of junk buried there," Erskine-Hellrigel "Every time it rains, more and more trash comes up."

On Saturday and Sunday, the hiking club will lead a cleanup of the canyon, just past the southern end of San Fernando Road. The club's newly formed Stewardship Committee plans such volunteer efforts throughout the mountain areas of Los Angeles in hope of improving the hiking experience while healing scars on wilderness areas.

Along with hauling out the bags of discarded tarpaulins, hangers, rusted metal and discarded clothing, the volunteer team plans to remove tamarisk plants from the creek bed. The bush sucks up the groundwater, and when it's gone the creek will flow after a little rain, Erskine-Hellrigel said Wednesday.

"We want the water there for the animals," she said.

Whitney Canyon, not far from the busy Antelope Valley Freeway, is home to an array of wildlife. Hikers have seen cougars, bobcats and deer.

"And there (is) a black bear ... and all kinds of little critters," Erskine-Hellrigel said.

Years ago, the private property owner allowed people to live in trailers in the remote canyon. In 2001, the city of Santa Clarita and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority bought the canyon, to preserve as wilderness, and removed squatters living in six trailers, she said.

"They did a cleanup years ago, and they thought they got everything, but it rained and all this junk surfaced again," Erskine-Hellrigel said. "There's a whole living-room carpet in the creek right now.

"We're just going out and dig and dig and dig," she said. "It's a huge effort. The more you dig, the worse it gets."

Crews from the MRCA, the Placerita Canyon Nature Center and a local environmental group will be joined by Scouts and others who want to help. Volunteers are asked to bring picks, shovels and trash bags.

"This is the beginning of a whole new stewardship program," she said. "This is our kickoff event."

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If you go

Volunteers will clean up Whitney Canyon from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Parking is beyond the southern end of San Fernando Road in Newhall. Follow the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority parking signs.

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