More Money Is Earmarked for Public Acquisition in Corral Canyon

• State Agencies Are Scheduled to Approve the Funding for Another 320 Acres of Parkland

BY BILL KOENEKER

The state Coastal Conservancy is poised to approve a $2.5 million disbursement to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to acquire 320 acres of Corral Canyon property at its meeting next week.

A Conservancy spokesperson indicated the 320 acres include parcels along the creek or riparian corridor that would connect Corral Canyon Park to the south with Malibu Creek State Park to the north.

Recently, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy granted $4 million in funding to the MRCA for the acquisition of additional acreage totaling 850 acres in Corral Canyon.

The acquisitions of additional acreage in the coastal canyon will link public lands north and south of the properties to facilitate development of the Coastal Slope Trail as well as facilitate implementation of the Malibu Public Access Local Coastal Plan amendment pending before the City of Malibu.

The Trust for Public Lands has already negotiated a purchase agreement from a willing seller for other property, including a northern section consisting of 199 acres. The current owner has both Los Angeles County and California Coastal Commission approvals on at least three parcels within both the northern and southern sections of the property.

Corral Canyon is one of the last remaining coastal canyons in the Los Angeles County portion of the Santa Monica Mountains with a contiguous band of natural land from the ocean to the crest of the range.

The canyon, which nearly burned in its entirety during the recent fire, encompasses an area from Malibu Creek State Park in the north and east and Dan Blocker State Beach at the mouth of Corral Creek.

The canyon contains chaparral and coastal sage scrub, and riparian woodland species, including white alders, sycamores, willow and coastal live oak.

There is a small salt marsh at the mouth of the creek, and a broad coastal bench located just east of the canyon trailhead supports what are described as some of the best remaining coastal bluff native grasslands in the Santa Monicas.

Most of the overnight camping outlined in the SMMC’s park plan is slated for Corral Canyon. All of the campsites planned, except for several ADA sites, are walk-in campsites either located on the bench or further upstream.