Source: VC Reporter
“It was truly exciting to be on that parcel of land and look at the vastness and hear about all the natural resources that are there. And it was exciting to be with the different partners that all pulled together to acquire this property. This has been a property that has been eyed for years by both developers and conservationists,” Irwin said.
The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will grow by 1,241 acres thanks to the purchase of a spectacular property that includes over two miles of Ventura County coastline and rugged canyons rising from Pacific Coast Highway.
The Trust for Public Land (TFPL), a nationwide environmental organization founded in 1972 and based in San Francisco, has purchased the “Deer Creek” parcel for $25 million with plans to soon turn the property over to the National Park Service (NPS). Prior to its purchase, it was the largest unprotected area of coastal open space from the U.S.-Mexico border all the way to Santa Barbara County, officials said.
Alex Size is TFPL conservation director for Southern California and told the Ventura County Reporter that the vacant property on both sides of Deer Creek Road was privately owned and eyed for development of luxury homes in the past. Size said a NPS biologist recently surveyed the property just east of the Los Angeles County line that was previously off limits to researchers and saw more species of plants and animals than in other parts of the Santa Monica Mountains.
“It’s chock full of species and some of them are threatened and endangered of course. It’s mountain lion habitat, it’s deer habitat. There are also around two dozen archaeological sites since it is a coastal property, and you would expect as much. And so it’s significant for the Indigenous Chumash community as well,” Size said.
The property is also an important site for the creation of a long-planned “Coastal Slope Trail” that will include views of the ocean and mountains and would travel all the way from the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains through Malibu and beyond. Size said in addition to new hiking trails and scenic viewpoints that will be open to the public in coming years, the purchase should help improve access to the shoreline.
“There’s a nice beach right there, but the access is very poor. It’s actually extremely dangerous to access the beach there. And I know the National Park Service will want to improve that public access point in particular,” Size said.
The land was appraised at $31 million, but Size said the owners agreed to sell it for $25 million, which was mostly covered by state and federal funding. According to Size, $10 million was included in the 2022-2023 California state budget and other critical funding came from a U.S. Interior Department program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
"These are the types of projects that get funded from those taxpayer dollars,” he explained. “And so when people have questions about, ‘Hey, where did that money go?’ Well, this is where it goes. And I think anyone who gets out onto the Deer Creek property will see that that was a good use of those funds.”
The acquisition of Deer Creek was celebrated during a July 21 news conference at the site that included NPS and conservation leaders, Native American representatives and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin. Irwin helped secure state funding for the project and said it was a “clearly historic announcement.” She presented a giant ceremonial check for $10 million during the event and told the VCReporter how it felt to actually stand on the property that will be spared from development forever.
“It was truly exciting to be on that parcel of land and look at the vastness and hear about all the natural resources that are there. And it was exciting to be with the different partners that all pulled together to acquire this property. This has been a property that has been eyed for years by both developers and conservationists,” Irwin said.
Getting the funding into the state budget looked “iffy” at times, Irwin said, but the cause was bolstered by a plan endorsed by Governor Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden called the “30 by 30 plan” that seeks to preserve 30% of California’s land and ocean territory in its natural state by 2030.
“This is a worldwide plan that California has committed to. So with the commitment to the 30 by 30 plan and additional budget surplus last year, we were able to get $10 million,” Irwin explained. “That was really the spark that allowed the rest of the money to come together.”
The assemblymember said she’s looking forward to the day when the land is accessible to hikers from trails that will link up with existing paths such as the Backbone Trail that travels 67 miles from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu State Park.
“There will be trails hooking up to the Backbone Trail and to other trails along the coast. So we will be preserving the land and we will also make sure that folks that might be coming from urban areas see how beautiful this land is and how critical it is to protect it for future generations,” Irwin said.