Senderos Canyon Auction
SENDEROS (HOAG) CANYON: 260 ACRES OF NATURAL UNDISTURBED OPEN SPACE
Please join us to save this unique and irreplaceable natural resource right here in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Conserve open space, save species, combat climate change.
On January 24, 2023, 260-acres of privately-owned, pristine, undeveloped open space in the Santa Monica Mountains went on the auction block. This property, advertised as Senderos Canyon, but historically known as Hoag Canyon (pronounced “hog”), is located just east of the I-405 in the Bel Air neighborhood.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky responded quickly to community concerns by introducing a motion in early February to preserve this precious natural resource. The motion, passed by the full City Council on February 17, 2023, calls for available strategies to preserve the Senderos Canyon property and to identify various options to fund the purchase of the property, including potential County, State and Federal funding sources.
It is vitally important to preserve native habitat for endangered flora and fauna and connectivity for wildlife, including mountain lions, mule deer, bobcats and gray fox. Additionally, preserving this open space would serve to decrease wildfire risk, maintain life-sustaining ecosystem services such as flood/debris flow control and reduce the heat-island effect. If this campaign is successful, the property could be purchased or donated to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for permanent protection.
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy calls this land one of the most ecologically significant properties in the City of Los Angeles, and says that the Canyon’s natural values contribute greatly to the Eastern Santa Monica Mountains ecosystem. Of significant note, Mountain Lion P-22 would not have made it to Griffith Park if Hoag Canyon had been developed. Likewise, the male lion that now roams between the 101 and I-405 freeways would not be present. Development of this canyon would jeopardize the sustainability of Santa Monica Mountains wildlife east of the 405 Freeway.
The seller has put Senderos Canyon up for auction as a potential site for homes, a vineyard, an equestrian center or an 18-hole golf course, Bloomberg reported. He calls this land sale the “most monumental development opportunity in Los Angeles,” and is advertising the property as “a once-in-a-century-opportunity” to purchase 260 sweeping and pristine acres in the heart of Bel Air.
We have the rare opportunity to preserve this land, and we need your help to do it!
Please join us in the campaign to save this precious natural resource in the following ways:
Forward this email request to your lists to gather additional support;
Draft a letter to support CM Yaroslavsky’s Council Motion using the sample outline and bullets below, post to the Council File, and send to the list of electeds below;
Donate generously to the campaign through our 501(c)(3) partner Canyon Back Alliance at https://savesenderoscanyon.org.
Contact us for more information at savesenderoscanyon@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Wendy, Andrew, Jamie, Mindy, Travis, Wendy-Sue & Paul
Save Senderos Canyon Campaign Committee
Sample Letter to Council File and Elected Officials:
Post your letter to the City Council File # 23-0129 using the form linked here.
Send your letter to the following email addresses. Be sure to include the "Re" line so letter has the File Number on it (one letter can be sent to all):
Brad.Sherman@mail.house.gov, Janet.Turner@mail.house.gov, Nicolas.Rodriquez@mail.house.gov, ben.allen@sen.ca.gov, Tina.Andolina@sen.ca.gov, henry.stern@sen.ca.gov, katharine.moore@sen.ca.gov, nicholas.gaines@sen.ca.gov, Rick.Zbur@asm.ca.gov, Bob.Hartnagel@asm.ca.gov, Robert.Oliver@asm.ca.gov, Assemblymember.irwin@assembly.ca.gov, Nancy.Frawley@asm.ca.gov, Lindsey@bos.lacounty.gov, thirddistrict@bos.lacounty.gov, mccastillo@bos.lacounty.gov, councilmember.yaroslavsky@lacity.org, dylan.sittig@lacity.org, jarrett.thompson@lacity.org, councilmember.park@lacity.org, Jeff.Khau@lacity.org, contactCD4@lacity.org, Mashael.Majid@lacity.org, mehmet.berker@lacity.org, Clerk.CPS@lacity.org, savesenderoscanyon@gmail.com
Template for Letter:
Date: March _____, 2023
To: Local, State and Federal Elected Officials
Re: Support for Los Angeles City Council File Number 23-0129 Save Senderos Canyon
The (NAME OF YOUR ORGANIZATION, DESCRIBE ORG, ITS MEMBERSHIP, ITS LOCATION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT INFO) urges your support of Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky’s motion to determine available strategies to preserve the 260-acre Senderos Canyon property (also known as Hoag Canyon) and to identify various options to fund the purchase of the property, including potential County, State, and Federal funding sources. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy calls this land one of the most ecologically significant properties in the City of Los Angeles, and says that the Canyon’s natural values contribute greatly to the Eastern Santa Monica Mountains ecosystem.
The preservation of this important natural resource is consistent with the mission of our organization (DESCRIBE HOW). We support the acquisition of this land for the following reasons:
Saving this open space would further the Governor’s 30x30 goal of conserving 30% of California's land and coastal waters by 2030 and President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative to help combat the global climate and biodiversity crisis.
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy adopted a resolution calling this property one of the most regionally significant unprotected habitat areas within the Santa Monica Mountains range, which contains the most ecologically significant riparian corridor in the Santa Monica Mountains east of the 405 freeway.
The recent attention on P-22’s death and his isolated existence in Griffith Park highlights the problems associated with habitat fragmentation and loss of connectivity.
Preservation of Hoag Canyon will ensure habitat linkage between the Big Wild and Griffith Park extending the Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park and the greater Santa Monica Mountains nature preserve managed by the SMMC and MRCA.
According to the City’s 2022 Biodiversity Index Baseline Report, just over 20% of the City of Los Angeles is classified as natural (95.48 square miles out of 470.85 square miles in the City). For the baseline assessment of the Index, the City received a score of 37 out of a possible 110 points, indicating that substantial work remains to be done if the City aims to effectively protect and enhance biodiversity and take appropriate action to halt biodiversity loss.
Saving this canyon would protect important cultural resources, preserving our shared cultural resources in the State.
Saving one of the last remaining perennial streams in the City would preserve watershed health, protecting aquatic and terrestrial species.
Development of the canyon would negatively impact large-scale community health by reducing carbon storage (climate risk), increasing heat island effects, increasing flood and debris-flow hazards, worsening air quality, and eliminating a source of groundwater recharge.
Preserving this land as open space will protect against wildfire risk. According to experts 95-97% of all wildfires in California’s Mediterranean regions are caused by humans or human infrastructure in the wildland urban interface.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save what little open space Los Angeles has left.
We urge our Federal, State and local representatives to do everything they can to find the resources needed to purchase this important open space.
Thank you,
NAME and TITLE
ORG NAME