Mountains Conservancy Gives $1 Million To Preserve Hollywood Hills Wildlife Space

LOS ANGELES, CA — The board of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy voted to donate $1 million toward the purchase of 17 acres of wildlife space in the Hollywood Hills and protect it from development, a group organizing the purchase announced Friday.

The Let's Buy A Mountain nonprofit comprises Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, the Laurel Canyon Association and the Laurel Canyon Land Trust, and has until December to raise a total of $1.6 million to buy the land, which is located between Lookout Mountain Avenue and Stanley Hills Drive.

With the $1 million, and $100,000 in matching funds from Supervisor Sheila Kuehl from Proposition A funds and more than $100,000 in private donations, the group will need to raise about $400,000 more by December to purchase the land for $1.6 million from a group of private investors.

"We're so grateful to the boards of the Conservancy and the MRCA that have been supportive partners of our efforts from the beginning," CLAW Chair Tony Tucci said.

"They have a unique understanding of the environmental value of this unmolested wildlife habitat that happens to be in the middle of Los Angeles. Open space property in the Hollywood Hills is increasingly under the threat of development and our mission is to protect habitat blocks and their linkages, wherever possible," he said.

The investors who own the land entered into an agreement with Let's Buy a Mountain to sell it if the funds could be raised by December. The original deadline was April but the investors agreed to extend it to December when it started to look like the SMMC was going to make the donation, Tucci told City News Service.

"As a land-use attorney I am often approached by residents seeking to prevent development projects in the name of environmental protection. Unfortunately, even under the best-case scenario, this is not always possible. This is an opportunity for our neighbors to get ahead of the curve, put our money where our mouth is and save this open space for generations," said Jamie Hall, president of the Laurel Canyon Association and the Laurel Canyon Land Trust.

The Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority has agreed to maintain the land as a nature preserve.

"Preservation of this remarkable property is essential to permanent protection of the east-west wildlife habitat linkage through the eastern Santa Monica Mountains into Griffith Park which mountain lion P-22 currently inhabits," said Paul Edelman, deputy director for Natural Resources and Planning for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

"This is the central property in a greater-than-50-acre habitat block. Its gentle ridgeline provides clear views of the Santa Ana Mountains, Mount San Jacinto, San Gorgonio Mountain, Mount Baldy, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Hills, and the Santa Monica Mountains including Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign. The property provides for infiltration of a significant amount of rainfall and will provide multiple benefits related to water quality, water supply, and watershed protection," he said.

City News Service; Photo: Diliff via Wikimedia Commons