ranchland

The river’s water sustains fast-growing cities including Phoenix and Las Vegas, as well as more than 5 million acres of farmland and ranchland.

An expansion of Montecito Heights’ historic Flat Top Park, the further greening of Baldwin Park and the acquisition of roughly 456 acres of Santa Clarita ranchland are among the 13 grants awarded Tuesday by the L.A.

But all over the mountains surrounding L.A., developers were buying up ranchland, filing plat maps and producing lavish real estate ads and sales brochures touting the foothills as an elevated paradise for a newly emerging upper middle class.

As people moved to new subdivisions on former ranchland in the San Fernando Valley, hillside lots were no longer on L.A.’s outskirts.

Some argue that turning ranchland into public parks and conservation areas have exacerbated fire risk.