U.S. Urged to Trade Land for Park Trail
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Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) is urging the federal government to trade some of its California land holdings in order to fill a crucial link in the Backbone Trail through the Santa Monica Mountains.
The uncompleted stretch of the trail, which is administered by the National Park Service, would be cut in half by the plan.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Sherman urges Babbitt to consider trading several small parcels of federal land that are adjacent to or surrounded by California parklands in order to obtain the Capra property, a 160-acre piece of land just south of Encino Canyon Road, four miles west of the Los Angeles-Ventura county border.
Among the federal parcels Sherman would like to see traded are about 80 acres surrounded on three sides by Point Mugu State Park, about 60 acres surrounded on three sides by Leo Carrillo State Park and nearly 40 acres near Topanga State Park.
Sherman hopes such a trade would win the approval of Gov. Pete Wilson, who opposed an earlier attempt to safeguard the Capra parcel for public use.
One National Park Service employee said Babbitt is likely to be amenable to Sherman’s proposal.
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