The Plan The Plan 3 Minimal Impact The Plan 56 Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park PLAN OVERVIEW DECLARATION OF PURPOSE The Declaration of Purpose defines the The Plan Section establishes the long- purpose of the Park. A declaration of range purpose and vision for the purpose is required by the Public management of Santa Susana Pass Resource Code, Section 5002.2 (b), State Historic Park. Specific goals and and “setting forth specific long-range guidelines denoted within this Section management objectives for the Park set the framework for the desired consistent with the Park’s resource conditions and visitor classification...” experiences for the Park. These goals and guidelines will provide A Declaration of Purpose for the Park management guidance for the was created by the Santa Susana Pass management zones that are being State Historic Park General Plan team: proposed for the Park (refer to page 91 The purpose of Santa Susana Pass for Management Zones). Specific State Historic Park is to preserve and facilities and capacities are not being explore crucial links, both to provided but rather the general California’s past and to dwindling direction for the protection, wildlife habitats, while providing preservation, restoration, and visitors with quality recreational and development of the Park are addressed. educational experiences along its As time passes, with the advancement historic trails. of technology and the discovery of new resource information, this Framed by sculptural sandstone document will remain flexible, escarpments reminiscent of early allowing future managers to use the California, the Park’s boulder-strewn 57 latest technology and resource landscape contains significant natural information available to meet current and cultural resources. Among these circumstances and visitor-use patterns. are critical wildlife habitats and linkages, segments of a historic Additional management actions will be Overland Stagecoach route, and other determined by future management evidence of human occupation and plans. activity dating back to precontact Tentatively identified management times. plans include: Although named for the historic stage • Climbing Management Plan route, Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park also offers links to many • Fire Management Plan (update existing Plan) historic features within the greater Los Angeles Basin. In addition, the Park • Camping Management Plan will solidify the vital role California • Interpretive Master Plan State Parks has in maintaining diverse • Cultural Resource Management plant and wildlife populations in the Plan face of expanding urban development • Collections Management Plan and habitat fragmentation in southern California’s Transverse Mountain Ranges. The Plan Its open space is a valuable resource damage or the irreversible loss of as well as a welcoming sanctuary with sensitive habitat or species, and outstanding recreational potential and qualities that provide a desirable links to adjacent open spaces. visitor experience. Land management actions will be PARKWIDE MANAGEMENT based on sound scientific data. GOALS AND GUIDELINES However, if such data do not currently The following sections contain goals exist and resource integrity appears in and guidelines for managing the imminent danger, management action significant natural resources of the will be taken with the best available Park. A few sections have over-arching information and expertise of park staff goals that apply to several subsections. and other associated experts. For example, Vegetation Management PHYSICAL RESOURCE includes Native Plant Communities MANAGEMENT and Sensitive Plant Species. Each subsection will have guidelines that Geology relate to the over-arching goal and to The Park’s geology is a direct result of that specific subsection. its geological history and tectonism. Essential to the realization of these Further documentation and goals is the periodic assessment of the preservation of fragile geological status and conditions of key resources formations is important, and care must recognized as requiring protection and be taken to maintain their integrity. management within the Park. The 58 Goal: Protect and preserve the unique California Department of Parks and geological resources and Recreation has recently devised a features of the Park. process to assess the conditions of environmental complexes within units Guidelines: of the CDPR system, referred to as the 1. Support efforts to geologically map Environmental Condition Assessment the stratigraphy and lithological (ECA) process under the auspices of formations and structural features the natural resource Inventory, in the Park. Management plans and Monitoring, and Assessment Program decisions with respect to facilities and the Resource Management development and visitor access and Program. In order to assure that natural recreation must recognize, and resource management goals for the accordingly mitigate, negative Park are reached, this process should impacts to fragile geological be implemented to supplement the features. baseline data that were developed prior to this General Plan. 2. Identify and monitor significant geological features. Take protective Land management decisions are measures where necessary. complex, and detailed site-specific data are often unavailable. However, 3. Adequately and professionally lack of, or delay of management manage and care for the geological actions for intensive studies or collections. additional data can result in costly Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park 4. Promote a better understanding and pollutants, and restore natural flow greater appreciation of the and hydrological processes. geological resources of the Park. 3. Address strategies for stabilization a. Develop criteria that identify and topographic restoration of geological features and severely eroded features and areas. resources appropriate for public NATURAL RESOURCES interpretation. MANAGEMENT b. Analyze geological resources and data to best interpret the The present rate of decline and geological history of the Park. extinction of plants and animals supports the current global biodiversity c. Develop partnerships with crisis hypothesis. California has the universities to further scientific greatest number of threatened and research and educational endangered species in the continental opportunities. Incorporate U.S. representing nearly every results from scientific research taxonomic group, from plants and into geological resource invertebrates to birds, mammals, fish, management. amphibians, and reptiles. The South Hydrology Coast Ecoregion of California has been Surface and groundwater quality, identified as a “hot-spot,” or region quantity, and natural hydrological where extraordinary biodiversity and patterns are essential elements for endemism overlap with extreme healthy biota in the Park. Much of the potential of habitat destruction when biota and many sensitive species compared to other regions around the 59 throughout this region depend on earth. isolated surface or subsurface waters. CDPR has recently developed a Goal: Protect, enhance, and restore process to assess the conditions of the Park’s potential wetlands environmental complexes within units and hydrologic resources. of the CDPR system. The Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment Program Guidelines: (IMAP) provides goals, guidance, and standards for CDPR’s efforts to 1. Protect the surface water and groundwater of the Park. systematically evaluate the vegetation, wildlife, and physical natural resources 2. Identify the sources that degrade of the CDPR system. In order to assure water quality and quantity within that natural resource management the watersheds associated with the goals for the Park are reached, this Park. Ensure that current and future process should be implemented to park developments and visitor-use supplement the baseline data that were patterns do not degrade water developed prior to this General Plan. quality and quantity. Pursue cooperative actions with watershed Vegetation Management neighbors and users to improve Historical management practices such water conservation ethics, reduce as fire suppression and human or eliminate the discharge of encroachment have changed the species composition and ecological The Plan conditions of native plant communities maintaining the protection of in the Park. Prior to the Topanga Fire cultural landscapes and resources. in 2005, fire suppression had caused Efforts also will address the dense growth in chaparral and coastal conservation of sensitive and sage scrub vegetation communities. unique species and the control of Although most of the vegetation exotic invasive species management concerns, goals, and Sensitive Plant Species guidelines are the same throughout the entire Park, consideration must be Numerous plants that inhabit the Santa made for those areas that are Susana Mountains are specifically recognized and/or recorded as cultural adapted to these mountains and the landscapes. The vegetation isolating effects of urban development management guidelines for native that present barriers to the movement plant communities and cultural of plant seeds, bulbs, and plantlets. landscapes are discussed within this Because of their limited distribution, section to illustrate the differences in environmental requirements, and often management and resource protection. because of human impacts, these species become rare, threatened, or Native Plant Communities endangered. Seven native vegetation communities