The Woolsey Fire destroyed the Peter Strauss Ranch at Santa Monica Mountains NRA/NPS file

Parts of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, including the Paramount Ranch, that were lost to the Woolsey Fire in 2018 would be rebuilt under a plan the National Park Service has released for comment.

The Woolsey Fire started on November 8, 2018, near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory above Simi Valley, near the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Santa Ana winds pushed the fire in a southerly direction the first day. It then crossed the 101 Freeway between the San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley and headed into the Santa Monica Mountains.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area saw almost 100,000 acres burned by the fire. Most of Western Town at Paramount Ranch was destroyed, as well as the 1927 Peter Strauss Ranch house, the Rocky Oaks ranger residence and museum building, and most of the UCLA La Kretz Field Station. More than 21,000 of the 23,595 National Park Service acres within the park boundary burned.

The environmental assessment that analyzes the Park Service's preferred approach to rebuilding the lost structures and facilities calls for replacing the 19 lost structures with just nine structures at the three developed areas.

While the park plans to use the same locations at those sites for the redevelopment, the goal is to make the new facilities meet modern codes and be more functional and efficient. The new structures would meet current design codes and standards for accessibility and fire safety, including International Building Code, Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Standard/Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, and International Wildland Urban Interface Code and National Fire Protection Association codes, the EA says.

"In addition, the new structures would improve visitor experience and the efficiency of park operations from pre- and post-fire conditions. The proposed action is intended to redevelop the burned areas in a manner that better aligns with the NPS mission of conserving natural and cultural resources and providing high-quality outdoor recreation opportunities for the public," the document adds.

The wildfire destroyed maps and historical photographs, including Hollywood on-location shots, film reels, prehistoric fossils and Chumash Indian objects, plant specimens and park historical records at the park. It ruined wildlife monitoring equipment, trashed uncounted sections of the area’s 450 trail miles, and torched 35 Park Service buildings, some designated as historic.

The Park Service is proposing to rebuild some of the Paramount Ranch set/NPS

The Western movie set at Paramount Ranch, the only Park Service site to tell the story of American filmmaking, lost to the flames the Old West saloon, sheriff’s office, and hitching posts featured in TV shows and movies such as West World, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, The Lake House, and The Cisco Kid. 

The preferred proposal in the EA calls for rebuilding of damaged or destroyed structures "so that Paramount Ranch once again functions as a filming venue and events space. The four historic buildings and all utilities that were destroyed in the fire would be replaced."

At Rocky Oaks, the Park Service proposes to "centralize the replacement of employee housing and administrative offices lost in the fire from other NPS properties within SMMNRA to this site, which would improve the efficiency of NPS operations. The proposed action would include construction of an administrative office building, employee housing structures, recreational vehicle parking and hookups for seasonal employees, and associated site improvements at this site. Only one housing building would be constructed in the first phase of the project, but the proposed action contains a design for a second housing building."

Work proposed for the Peter Strauss Ranch calls for replacement of the ranch house and outdoor assembly areas, so that the property would once again function as an event space. Construction would occur after the improvements at Paramount Ranch and Rocky Oaks are completed and funding is found for this work, the EA said.

If, after the current 30-day public comment period, the plan is adopted, construction could start in the spring at both the Paramount Ranch and Rocky Oaks.