I love to give tours of Mentryville and Pico Canyon. I gave two tours this week to two groups of third grade students. They are great kids and most appreciative of what I had to say.

The second day of tours, I got to the old town and waited for the carloads of kids. Soon they came, and the kids piled out of the cars and we started the “tour.”

I showed them the Pico Cottage and barn and stuff. We walked over to the Felton schoolhouse and continued the “tour.”

I can tell when a third grader’s attention span has reached its limit. They become more interested in my basset hound, Mr. Renly. So we closed with a round of final questions, and I thanked them for coming to see my old home town.

We then walked to the parking lot to be greeted by a ranger.

It seems I was the only one to get a parking pass. Since they were almost all loaded, they left. I walked over to him and explained that I had told them to pay. He said I should make sure they do pay.

Now hold it right there. Not my job.

I think the parking fee is stupid. Look at how many people park at the lot in Towsley. Almost none. Why? Free parking is just a few steps away. Of course, a good portion of the Mountains Conservancy lot in Towsley is on property of the city of Santa Clarita.

So I’m asked, why don’t I get a parking pass for a whole year?

Does someone want to give me the $450 for a yearlong pass? I can’t afford that. That would be equal to 90 visits at $5 per visit. I don’t go to Towsley or Pico that much. I do go to Placerita. Free parking and real nice folks, too.

But Placerita isn’t home. Sure, I spent some time there when I was growing up, but it is Pico and Mentryville that is home. And it isn’t often visited – I think because of the $5 parking rate.

Just what does the money go for? I’ve looked on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy website and found some income reports of grants and such. I didn’t know the $500,000 had been spent on improvements in Mentryville.

What I think we need to know is the where all the money comes from and where it goes. The main offices for the Conservancy cannot be cheap to rent or own. They are in Beverly Hills. Not exactly the low-rent area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Just how is that paid for and from what funding source?

For being a “not-for-profit” state agency, it seems like a lot of money changes hands all the time. So is the $5 parking fee doing much to help? Or is it keeping people from seeing places like Mentryville?

There isn’t a parking fee at Los Angeles County parks such as Vasquez Rocks, Placerita Canyon Nature Center or William S. Hart Park, to name a few. But five miles west of Newhall, people are charged $5 to park in a dirt lot.

I’ve had Conservancy rangers tell me that every time I write something about Pico, they get some heat from their Conservancy supervisors. It shouldn’t be that way. They are doing their job. I’m doing mine. The “bad press” isn’t because of them. The rangers of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority) have a lot of problems patrolling rural parks in a very urban environment. I don’t want the job they have.

I also don’t want to be told I can’t visit Mentryville because I write bad things about the Conservancy. Too bad. It is property of the state of California. I will go there no matter what. I will pay the parking fee only because I don’t want to give them any reason to keep me from going there.

But enforcement of the fee isn’t my job. I tell all of my tour groups to pay. If they don’t, they don’t. (I also tell them the parking ticket isn’t cheap, either.)

So there you have it.

I just want to know when we can visit without the parking fees. I want to know the entire financial status of the Conservancy.

Most of all I want transparency. I’ve asked these questions since 1997. The answer of silence tells me all I need to know.

Maybe Assemblyman Scott Wilk can help? Please?

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries, published on Tuesdays and Sundays, are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].