SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS TASK FORCE

Contact Mary Ann Webster, chair

ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2006

The Santa Monica Mountains Task Force SMMTF (formed in 1972) continued its environmental agenda in 2006 in the Santa Monica Mountains and Coastal Areas. The Task Force met monthly. Highlights of accomplishments and activities during the year included:

Santa Monica Mountains Local Coastal Plan
The County's Coastal Plan will be the main means of protecting scenic viewsheds, sensitive watersheds, and Santa Monica Bay water quality. It will also be the means of establishing a trails system linking the Backbone Trail and mountain parks to public beaches. To ensure the most protective Local Coastal Plan for the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area (60% is under the jurisdiction of LA County and 2/3 of that land is in the coastal zone, which extends five miles inland here), the SMMTF has taken the following steps:

1. Given County Planning staff and Supervisor Yaroslavsky's Planning Deputy tours of key mountain areas.
2. Continued to contact County officials through e.mails, phone calls, and personal visits to express our environmental concerns.
3. Submitted detailed written testimony with maps and photographs to County Planning staff, to the Supervisor's office, and to the Regional Planning Commission.
4. Worked with equestrians, homeowners groups and residents to gain support for the Coastal Plan and arranged meetings together with equestrian leaders & County Staff to negotiate on problem areas.
5. Presented testimony before the Regional Planning Commission.
   The SMMTF made protection of existing Trails a high priority.
1. Worked with environmental groups, Councilman Bill Rosendahl and other officials to successfully oppose the blocking off and gating off of several popular trails in the Brentwood - Mulholland area.
2. Wrote an article for the Southern Sierran on preserving trails and establishing prescriptive easements.
3. Joined with several other trail activist groups as appellants before the Malibu City Council when the Malibu Planning Commission refused to require dedication of a critical section of the Coastal Slope Trail. SOKA Property along Malibu Canyon-Las Virgenes Road

The SMMTF played a major role in the campaign to purchase the Soka Property, working through Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Mountains Restoration Trust and other agencies to achieve sufficient funds for the purchase in 2005. The SMMTF spent 20006 exploring the property and preparing for the public planning meetings to plan the future uses of SOKA.

Mulholland Highway
In 2006 the SMMTF took a lead role in Fran Pavley's efforts to get Mulholland Highway designated a State Scenic Highway. The Task Force was asked by LA. County staff to draw up a guide to Mulholland Highway for submittal as part of the effort to get the scenic designation. We did so and within a few weeks CalTrans approved the designation.

Camp Bloomfield
The Task Force was in contact with public agencies re the proposed major expansion of Camp Bloomfield, just upstream from Leo Carrillo State Park. On investigating the site, we found that this major expansion would impact Arroyo Sequit and the annual spawning run of the endangered Southern steelhead. Through Supervisor Zev Yarosloavsky's office, we met with the owners of Camp Bloomfield and discussed our concerns. In 20007 we will receive the completion of an EIR for the project and move forward after that.

Solstice Canyon Area Hotel Plans
For several years the SMMTF has actively opposed construction of a hotel on the banks of Solstice Creek in Malibu, a creek on which the State and the National Park Service have spent several million dofllars to restore an historic steehead run. In August 2005, the Task Force persuaded the Coastal Commision to override a staff recommendation and to deny the hotel. The owner filed suit against the Coastal Commission. During 2006, the Task Force prepared plans for the Sierra Club to be recognized as an intervenor, when and if the suit is activated.

Solstice Canyon Watershed
With the change in Congress, the National Park Service is planning to ask for funds to acquire key parcels in the Solstice Canyon watershed, both to protect the watershed and to provide a trail corridor to link the Backbone Trail and Malibu Creek State Park to Corral Beach at the mouth of Solstice Canyon. To that end we have ordered display photographs of the land and have begun preprations for a trip to legislators in Washington to persuade Congress to fund the acquisiton.

Cougar Monitoring
The SMMTF continues to monitor the Park Service's groundbreaking study of Cougars in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills.

SMMTF Outings Program
From the beginning, the SMMTF has had a strong outings program. In 2006, the number of hikes and outings we led was 292. We had 38 qualified leaders. The number of particpants was 4, 400.

Volunteer Trail Crew
Our Sierra.Club Volunteer Trail Crew, led by Ron Webster, worked more than 2,000 hours in 2006, building and maintaining trails in the Santa Monica Mountains and adjacent areas.