Ahmanson Ranch Development

“San Fernando Valley Spineflower Won’t Get Protected Designation,” Nov. 27.

Michael Spear, California-Nevada operations manager for Fish and Wildlife has arbitrarily and capriciously declared the thought-to-be-extinct San Fernando Valley spineflower found on Ahmanson Ranch not to need an emergency listing. Spear is wrong. Long-term protection for this fragile plant is mandated by federal law, which Spear is in charge of implementing. Spear wants to wait until Washington Mutual’s bulldozers come to destroy Ahmanson Ranch to consider protecting the plant. Mr. Spear: Guess what? That’s too late!

MARY E. WIESBROCK

Agoura

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In a Nov. 26 letter to the editor, Westlake Village residents Sharon and Herb Cohen claimed that if the Ahmanson Ranch development is built, “future generations will have to go to a museum to see what open areas used to look like.”

The opposite is true. The Ahmanson Ranch made possible 10,000 acres of parkland as part of a trade-off for a responsible development.

As a park volunteer with more than 1,000 hours assisting Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area visitors, I know firsthand how much hikers, mountain bicyclists and equestrians are enjoying this gift, and will continue to do so in perpetuity. Where else in the park system can you find multi-use trails more than 10 miles in length? Soon we will be able to take the trail from Las Virgenes Road to the top of China Flat--nearly 14 miles. This will be possible only because of the Ahmanson Ranch. The letter from the Cohens goes on to say: “Go back to Seattle, Washington Mutual; leave our area . . . alone. We want future generations to enjoy the beauty of this land.”

What are the Cohens thinking? To me, it matters not whether the developer is from this state or out of state. The Cohens and many others need to understand that Ahmanson Ranch has given us a once-in-a-lifetime gift that will endure forever. I appreciate their generosity.

JACK DWYER

Thousand Oaks