Los Angeles hikers and bikers mobilize to save a popular trail

For at least half a century, Angelenos have hiked and biked up the Hastain Trail, a wide path that winds through oak trees and wildflowers in Franklin Canyon to a promontory overlooking the city and the ocean. Today, three chain link fences are erected along the path with signs warning against trespass.

It turns out that 45 acres along the trail are private property -- not publicly owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The entrance to the trail, through Conservancy land, lies off Mulholland Drive between Beverly Hills and Studio City.

Now developer Mohamed Hadid, who has built more than a dozen Ritz-Carlton hotels and many Beverly Hills mansions, plans to construct six or seven homes on the ridgeline.The move comes as public outcry is growing over mega-mansions that encroach on Los Angeles' dwindling open space.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/04/franklin-canyon-santa-monica-mountains-conservancy-development.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times-Greenspace by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times