Obama Adds $2.4 Million for Santa Monica Mountains; Sherman Leads Effort to Acquire Parkland

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) announced that the Obama Administration included $2.4 million in its Fiscal Year 2013 Budget to acquire and protect up to 238 acres of pristine land in Zuma and Trancas Canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains. The project was one of six nationwide land acquisition priorities in the budget and the only project in California.

"After years of fighting Congressional cuts to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, I am pleased that the President's budget once again highlights the importance of acquiring and protecting land in the Santa Monica Mountains," said Congressman Sherman. "We cannot afford to lose more land to development and the administration's investment in the Santa Monica Mountains, if approved by Congress and signed into law, will help protect critical habitat and expand recreational opportunities for generations of park visitors."

"I am pleased to have led the effort in Washington to persuade the National Park Service, and Department of the Interior to fund this critical land acquisition. In fact, this is the only National Park Service land in California requested in the President's budget."

In December 2011, Congressman Sherman wrote to the Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service Director to urge the administration to include three land acquisitions in the Santa Monica Mountains in the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. A copy of Congressman Sherman's letter can be found below. Sherman also hosted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a visit and tour of the Santa Monica Mountains on July 9, 2010 as part of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, to promote and support efforts to conserve outdoor open spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the nation's largest urban national park providing a variety of outdoor activities for over 33 million annual visitors. Congressman Sherman has secured nearly $20 million in federal funding to acquire and preserve critical open space in the Santa Monica Mountain, including King Gillette Ranch and Zuma and Trancas Canyons, as well as complete the 65-mile Backbone Trail. Sherman was also instrumental in helping secure federal funding for the construction of the Anthony C. Beilenson Visitor Center at King Gillette Ranch, which is set to open to the public in June 2012.

Read the Full Letter Below

December 1, 2011


The Honorable Ken Salazar Mr. Jon Jarvis
Secretary Director, National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW 1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240 Washington, DC 20240

Dear Secretary Salazar and Director Jarvis:

I am writing to urge the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to include three critical Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) acquisitions within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) in the President's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget.

The President's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget included $3,043,500 to acquire up to 350 acres of pristine habitat in Zuma and Trancas Canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains. While I am hopeful that Congress will ultimately fund a portion of the President's Fiscal Year 2012 request for LWCF, I would like to call your attention again to three important acquisitions that should be included in the President's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. The acquisitions include parcels near Malibu Creek and in Zuma and Trancas Canyons, as well as the Mansdorf property – the largest remaining privately owned stretch of coastline in the Santa Monica Mountains. All of these properties are included in the SMMNRA Land Protection Plan for priority acquisition due to their scenic, recreational and natural resource values.

Although there are many other competing requests in the Pacific West Region and throughout the country, you both know firsthand from you experience visiting the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area that there is an imminent threat of development and a critical need to preserve sensitive habitat and recreational trails in this treasured national park unit. Moreover, these lands are immediately accessible to millions of urban residents in Greater Los Angeles, most of who have never visited a national park.

I look forward to the Department's Fiscal Year 2013 Budget recommendations and working with the administration and Congress to support these important acquisitions in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

BRAD SHERMAN
Member of Congress