The Altadena Foothills Conservancy, which first brought the project to the SMMCs attention, has targeted the site for preservation since 1999, said Astrid Ellersieck, a Foothills Conservancy member.

The property, owned by the estate of the late Charles W. Benedict, will be offered during a probate sale in late May, Ellersieck said. It had been listed for about two years with Webb-Martin Realtors at $399,000, she said.

The Santa Monica conservancy, which has not set a limit for the grant, will try to buy the 13.6-acre site at the sale. If the group succeeds, the Mountains Recreation Authority and the Foothills Conservancy will team to manage the land, Ellersieck said.

If the purchase goes through, it will be the second property preserved by the Foothills Conservancy, formed in December 1999.

The fenced-off Benedict property, where Canyon Crest Road crosses Millard Canyon Creek, stretches from the canyon floor to the steep hillside ridge. The four parcels are zoned for single-family homes -- flatter areas at six houses per acre and steep sites at one house per acre.

Water runs in the creek almost year-round, sustaining a riparian habitat with sycamores, white alders and animals, according to the Foothills Conservancy.

"Just one house would (have) significantly degraded the stream and forest environment as well as permanently eliminated a trail head and trail linkage' to the Angeles National Forest, said Nancy Steele, president of the Foothills Conservancy.

While he was a state senator, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff had asked for $500,000 to buy 11 acres of the property in April 2000, but the funding was cut from the state budget in July 2000.