Home › Breaking News
President Bush signs public lands bill
STORY TOOLS 
More from Breaking NewsWASHINGTON — President Bush signed into law Thursday a comprehensive public lands bill that calls for a federal study on possibly expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
The study, to be conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, will look at the suitability of adding more than a half-million acres to the federal recreation area, which straddles the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
The area that could possibly be added is known as the Rim of the Valley Corridor and includes the mountains and adjacent land surrounding the Conejo, Simi, San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Crescenta valleys.
The corridor takes in parts of the Santa Monica, Santa Susana, San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains, as well as the San Rafael Hills and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino national forests.
Conservation groups and other supporters say the expansion would create a contiguous trail that would allow people to enjoy greater access to existing trails in the recreation area.
Land-rights groups and other opponents have expressed concerns that the study could eventually lead to private property owners losing their land.
Posted by GramMars on May 8, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm surprised he doesn't want to drill for oil there.
Posted by mmshoot on May 8, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't tempt him, GramMars. Just kidding, I think he likes our protected areas set aside for public use. Cheney may want to hunt there, though. I think this action proves some things to all the Vulture Venture Capitalists and Bush-bashers alike.
(Requires free registration.)
Comments on this site are to be used for the discussion and/or debate of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Comments should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We don't allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete comments and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.