Newhall Ranch Land Donation

* Re “Paradise Preserved,” Jan. 5.

Your article on the Santa Susana Mountains and Santa Clarita Woodlands was interesting and timely. However, it should have also been pointed out that the proposed Newhall Ranch community will dedicate for public benefit an additional 4,000 acres of some of the most significant resources of the Santa Susana Mountains immediately west of the area described in the article. And all this will be at no cost to the state, county or taxpayers.

This 6-square-mile wilderness reserve, called the high country, is home to numerous species of wildlife and plants and some 13,000 native oak trees. This nature retreat includes Salt Creek Canyon, a wildlife corridor linking the high country to the Santa Clara River. With a carefully laid-out series of nature trails, the high country will provide a new and ecologically sensitive way for people to get out into unspoiled nature that has been inaccessible for more than a century.

JAMES M. HARTER

Valencia

Harter is executive vice president of Newhall Ranch Co.