Santa Monica Moutains Conservancy - Blog #4

Today in class we were assigned our government organizations to research and eventually write an in-depth story on. Some of the agencies include the Calabasas City Council, a Rape Crisis Center, the California Coastal Commission and Meals on Wheels. I was assigned a very big organization, a.k.a. the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy.

The conservancy was established in 1980 to help preserve, buy back and protect the environment for the general public. A zone was created which allows the conservancy to operate/obtain land from south of Malibu to north of Point Magu. This zone includes 450,000 acres of land for the conservancy to obtain. In reality the conservancy controls 55,000 acres of land in Southern California and operates 114 recreational facilities in that acreage.

There is a story already developing within Malibu concerning the conservancy. The conservancy is proposing to allow overnight camping. The agency is in the process of petitioning the city of Malibu for four overnight camp grounds and many residents would prefer to keep the status quo.

One of the most interesting things I was able to uncover with a brief 20 minute online search of the agency is that because of state laws and requirements monetary donations cannot be appropriated unless appropriated by the Legislature and Governor and then are approved by the Department of Finance in Sacramento.

In essence the money donated directly to the agency is held up and could be diverted to other causes. To counteract this another almost shadow organization was established in 1985 to use donations to help the conservancy. The Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority provides ranger services for almost 50,000 acres of public land and parks.

There will be many interesting develop as I dig through this agency.