AGOURA HILLS : Recreation Area to Mark 15th Birthday

Although this month’s devastating wildfires have temporarily closed some national parks, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will go ahead with plans to celebrate its 15th birthday Wednesday.

To mark the occasion, the National Park Service will offer a 15% discount Wednesday on all books and maps in its Visitor Center, located at 30401 Agoura Road in Agoura Hills.

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), who now represents most of Thousand Oaks, wrote the legislation creating the National Recreation Area in 1978 after more than a decade of grass-roots community lobbying.

Since then, the National Park Service has acquired more than 20,000 acres within the Santa Monica Mountains, including nearly all of the “backbone trail” that snakes across the ridgeline. Another 45,000 acres in the mountains, spanning Ventura and Los Angeles counties, are protected as state, county or city parkland.

The Park Service has stationed rangers at several command posts to determine when trails should be reopened, National Park Service spokeswoman Jean Bray said. When the parks do open, all hikers, bikers and horse riders should be careful to stay on marked paths to reduce the risk of erosion, she said.