Conservation Coalition Buys 1,733 Acres in Santa Susanas

In an effort to protect a key wildlife corridor at the northern edge of Los Angeles County, a coalition of conservation groups has purchased 1,733 acres of rolling hills, grasslands and stream-rich canyons in the Santa Susana Mountains.

Called Joughin Ranch, the property is located on the southern slopes of the Santa Susanas between Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley in Ventura County. It cost about $7.2 million -- the bulk of which came from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and a 1996 Los Angeles County park bond.

The purchase, announced Tuesday, is part of a larger effort by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to create a ring of permanent open space around the densely populated San Fernando, Simi and Santa Clarita valleys, said Paul Edelman, deputy director of natural resources and planning.

“It’s one of the big trophy properties,� Edelman said of Joughin Ranch. “It’s the best, wildest chunk of land adjacent to the San Fernando Valley.�

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy spearheaded the $8.5-million deal, about $1.3 million of which will go toward improving public access to the land.

Joughin Ranch, combined with 405 acres recently purchased in Browns Canyon, will form a large regional park with a network of hiking trails that will offer sweeping ocean and valley views, said Dash Stolarz, director of public affairs for the conservancy.

That park will connect two existing conservancy parks: Rocky Peak, which encompasses about 6,000 acres, and the 4,000-acre Santa Clarita Woodlands.

“The property itself is just fabulous,� Stolarz said. “You get up there and you feel like you’re on top of the world.�

As part of the Santa Susana range that runs east to west between Ventura and Los Angeles counties, the Joughin Ranch land helps form a link between the Sespe Condor Sanctuary in Los Padres National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest, said E.J. Remson, senior program manager for the Arlington, Va.-based Nature Conservancy, which gave $500,000 toward the acquisition.

The land -- which amounts to about three square miles -- includes coastal sage scrub, grasslands, chaparral and woodlands of oak, ash, walnut and sycamore.

It is home to mountain lions, deer, black bears, bobcats, coyotes and other large mammals. Several threatened plant species, including the slender mariposa lily and the Santa Susana tarplant, are found on and around the property.

“It represents a good example of what we call ‘core habitat’ in the Santa Susana Mountains,� Remson said.

Joughin Ranch is unique, Edelman said, because it encompasses the headwaters of natural streams that run through Devil, Ybarra and Browns canyons and that provide a portion of the drinking water supply for L.A.

The land, purchased from about a dozen descendants of the Joughin family -- among the first Southern California settlers -- has been on the conservancy’s high-priority list since the early 1990s, Edelman said. No. 1 on that list is Ahmanson Ranch, a 2,800-acre site in eastern Ventura County slated for a 3,050-home development.

“As more public investment goes into the Santa Susana Mountains,� Edelman said, “the more important protecting big chunks like Ahmanson Ranch becomes.�