Malibu Creek State Park

Despite the daunting task of creating a human link Sunday across the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, organizers of Hands Across the Parklands said the event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the park is running smoothly. "It's the first time we've attempted something like this, so we're unsure of what it's going to look like when it's done," said Jeff Blum, event chairman and director the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. "So you just pray for the best."

It's been 20 years in the making, but the Backbone Trail along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains is almost complete. Only a six-mile gap remains in the granddaddy of all trails, which meanders 70 miles over spectacular peaks from Pacific Palisades near Santa Monica to Point Mugu.

For many years hikers have promoted the idea of a 55-mile Backbone Trail following the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains from Will Rogers State Historic Park to Point Mugu State Park. When completed, the trail would link the three large state parks of Topanga, Malibu Creek and Point Mugu, as well as land owned by the National Park Service, and enable Southland residents to spend days and weekends hiking, backpacking and horseback riding along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Not so many years ago these baby-boom-generation Sierra Clubbers were conquering snowy summits with the Alpine Ski Mountaineers, cycling 80 miles a day with the Bicycle Touring Group, or partying hearty after a 15-mile hike with the Sierra Singles. Now their outdoors ventures are a wee bit different.

A dozen Malibu Lake residents parked their cars Tuesday morning in the path of bulldozers and dump trucks to stop the paving of a dirt road through Malibu Creek State Park--just hours after the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy approved a deal that is intended to keep the road as it is. The heavy equipment was on its way to grade the mile-long road, which property owners Tom and Pat Randa said they will proceed to pave unless the conservancy comes up with $1.

Ending a 15-year battle with state parks officials, a couple who wanted to pave a road to their house through Malibu Creek State Park on Thursday agreed to sell their property for about $1.65 million. The purchase by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy closes a bitter series of confrontations between Tom and Pat Randa of Sonoma and state officials who long coveted the couple's five acres at the northwest corner of the park near Malibu Lake.

Volunteers will plant about 1,000 acorns Sunday at Malibu Creek State Park in a joint reforestation effort by the Topanga-Las Virgenes Resource Conservation District and the Mountains Restoration Trust. More than 50 volunteers will participate in the planting, said Jo Kitz, a program director for the nonprofit, Malibu-based Mountain Restoration Trust. "We're starting to see some trees come back in naturally, already," she said. "We'd like to give the area a jump start."

There are many people that our homeowners association would like to thank for the recent successful conclusion of a campaign to prevent the paving of a dirt road in Malibu Creek State Park by a private developer. At the top of the list might go Assemblyman Terry Friedman, state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal and Dan Preece, superintendent of state parks for the Santa Monica Mountains Region. The commitment of these three to the wonderful resource represented by the Santa Monica Mountains cannot be surpassed.

On behalf of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, I would like to respond to comments contained in Deborah Brenner's letter on the Soka University issue (June 9). Brenner characterizes the Soka site as "beautiful" and "lush" and refers to the property across the street, presumably Malibu Creek State Park, in less-flattering terms. State parks spends approximately $60,000 per year locally to eradicate weeds, which we define as non-native plants, such as annual grasses, mustard and eucalyptus.

Los Angeles County officials Friday halted road-widening work next to Malibu Creek State Park after artifacts from a former Chumash Indian village were uncovered by initial grading.