400 acres of land in Elsmere Canyon is officially dedicated for use as open space, public park and recreational uses.

Allied Waste Industries, Inc. officially dedicated its grant of 400 acres of land in Elsmere Canyon near Santa Clarita to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) for permanent open space, public park and recreational uses today.

This undeveloped land in Elsmere Canyon contains wildlife corridors, riparian habitats, coastal sage, and oak woodlands.  When combined with the Whitney Canyon area, the property donated by Allied Waste creates a contiguous dedicated open space area and an important wildlife corridor that will be maintained by the MRCA.

Other land grants from Allied Waste to Los Angeles County for use as open space near the Santa Clarita area include:

• East Canyon (west of Sunshine Canyon): 426 acres dedicated to the MRCA for permanent open space and park and recreation uses.
• Upper Bee Canyon (south of Sunshine Canyon):  490 acres transferred to the County of Los Angeles. The County will transfer this property to the MRCA, again for permanent open space and park and recreation use.
• Sunshine Canyon, East Canyon Bee and Weldon Canyon: 80 acres of easements along the perimeter of these areas was granted for hiking trails. This grant also included $50,000 to the County for the acquisition of trail access into East Canyon.

This land grant was promised back in March 2007, ending a lengthy battle to stop the expansion of landfills into the pristine Elsmere Canyon area.

Allied Waste is the parent of BFI (Browning-Ferris Industries), as well as the owner of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

The MRCA is a local partnership between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (a state agency), the Conejo Recreation and Park District (in the Thousand Oaks area) and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. The MRCA is dedicated to the preservation and management of local open space and parkland, watershed lands, trails and wildlife habitat.

Looking for a place to take a hike or enjoy the outdoors? LAMountains.com has been set up by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy as a guide to all parks, trails and other open space areas within the Los Angeles area. Also take a look at California Wild for hiking "hot spots" and trail descriptions.

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