The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

founded in 1980 and dedicated to the acquisition of land for preservation as open space, for

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

and California native plants

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

Nature Preserves, and for public

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...

activities. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy was established by the California State Legislature in 1980. Since that time, it has helped to preserve over 72,000 acres of parkland in both wilderness and urban settings, and improved more than 114 public recreational facilities throughout Southern California. Additionally, it has given grants to nonprofit organizations for educational and interpretation programs that have served hundreds of thousands of children and other park visitors.

Territory protected

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy territory originally was within the Santa Susana Mountains and Santa Monica Mountains, and the

Simi Hills The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County, California, Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, of Southern California, United States. The range runs ma ...

; areas located north and west of metropolitan

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

and

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

. Since then its territory has been extended to the east to include parks in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains () are a mountain range located in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert ...

, Verdugo Mountains, San Rafael Hills, and

Puente Hills The Puente Hills are a chain of hills, one of the lower Transverse Ranges, in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. The western end of the range is often referred to ...

. The 450,000-

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

(180,000 ha) "zone" in which the conservancy can acquire land is bounded on the south by the Pacific Coast Highway from

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

to Point Mugu. The zone extends inland roughly 50 miles (80 km) from Malibu north to Newhall Pass and 65 miles (105 km) from Thousand Oaks east to Pasadena. Several major freeways in Los Angeles cross the zone, including the Hollywood, Ventura,

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

Preservation process

Since its founding, the Conservancy has acquired over 155,000 acres (63,000 ha) and identified another 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) within its zone as crucial for preservation. In addition to buying land outright, the Conservancy operates through public-private partnerships to promote low-density use among private land-owners. The conservancy also acquires rights to land through "time-leasing", receives land through donations and acquisition of foreclosures, and as mitigation for development projects. The Conservancy zone includes the 155,000-acre (63,000 ha) Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, created by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in 1978, as well as 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) of state parks, including Topanga State Park, and parks within Los Angeles' city limits including the Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park above Tarzana.

Some examples

Additions

The Conservancy was responsible for the 1990s acquisition of the Jordan Ranch lands in the western

near Thousand Oaks from entertainer

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

, creating th
Cheeseboro and Palo Commado Canyons Park
section of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA). The ranch was purchased by a developer and turned over the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

as part of a land development deal, which then allowed their development of new housing and golf courses on the Ahmanson Ranch land adjacent to the east. Late in 2003, the Conservancy secured state funds to purchase Ahmanson Ranch as well, creating the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve, a huge

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

on the western edge of West Hills and Woodland Hills. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy also acquired the Peter Strauss Ranch from the entertainer Peter Strauss in the central Santa Monica Mountains, which was also turned over to the National Park Service and opened to the public in the SMMNRA. The Conservancy is one of the four agencies sharing operation of the Santa Monica Mountains Anthony C. Beilenson Interagency Visitor Center, located at the former King Gillette Ranch stables. It is located at 26876 Mulholland Highway, at the junction with Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road near Calabasas. The stables and Gillette mansion were originally designed by Wallace Neff in the 1920s. The completed redesign project is the first visitor center in a zero-energy building in the National Park Service, and is LEED certified. It is named for Anthony C. Beilenson, the former congressman who authored legislation in 1978 to establish the SMMNRA. The center is operated by the four partner agencies in the park: the National Park Service, California State Parks, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA).

Subtractions

As reported in the ''Los Angeles Times'', controversy ensued when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy voted in April 2014 to drop its opposition to the large Dave Evans subdivision development proposal for Malibu, in exchange for $1 million in donations and consulting work. The singer Dave Evans, a.k.a. " The Edge", with the Irish rock band U2, has proposed a compound of five mansions on a coast−facing Santa Monica Mountains ridge, above Serra Canyon on Sweetwater Mesa Road. Malibu residents and environmentalists have opposed the project as excessive development and viewshed destruction, and have called into question the ethics of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy regarding the proposal. The

California Coastal Commission The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is a state agency within the California Natural Resources Agency with quasi-judicial control of land and public access along the state's of coastline. Its mission as defined in the California Coastal Ac ...

postponed its October 2014 vote on the project until 2015. Joe Edmiston, the conservancy's executive director, said his group had been wrong to agree to those terms to drop its opposition. The California Supreme Court rejected the scheme in 2018.

References

External links

Official Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) websiteSMMC: Map of the Conservancy Zone
— ''The Santa Monica Mountains and Rim of the Valley Corridor''.
SMMC: Our Open Space and Parks searchengine websiteMountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA): homepage
{{authority control Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area California Natural Resources Agency Environmental organizations based in California Santa Monica Mountains State agencies of California Nature conservation organizations based in the United States Environment of California Land management in the United States Organizations based in Los Angeles County, California Organizations based in Ventura County, California Protected areas of Los Angeles County, California Protected areas of Ventura County, California 1980 establishments in California Government agencies established in 1980