Hansen Dam's First New Land Map Since 2011 Is Open for Comment. Here's What It Actually Changes.

The Army Corps of Engineers has redrawn the map of the 1,461-acre basin where the Big and Little Tujunga washes meet. The golf course, the lake, the horse park, the trails along the dam base and the campground at the edge of the wash are all included. The draft 2026 Master Plan replaces the 2011 version and is meant to guide the land for 25 years. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District opened public review on Oct. 30, and written comments are due Dec. 13, 2026.

The plan doesn't touch the dam's flood-risk mission or how the dam operates. It assigns every acre a land classification, and those labels set what the City of Los Angeles, which runs recreation here under a lease from the Corps, can and can't do with the ground later.

Most of the new map describes what is already there

The headline figure in the draft is easy to misread. High Density Recreation goes from 230 acres to 580. Here is the full comparison from Table 8-1 of the draft master plan:

Of the 350 acres added to High Density Recreation, 205 come straight out of Low Density Recreation. The Corps explains that most land labeled low density in 2011 is "being used for high density recreation activities such as the golf course." The fairways aren't changing. The map now says what the land is used for.

The other pieces work the same way. The 2011 plan left 36 acres unclassified. Those are Corps-owned lands leased for public roads, and the new draft labels them High Density Recreation to support those roadways. Project Operations grows by 63 acres because the Corps checked the dam embankment and toe against the original as-built drawings. That includes a large section northeast of Osborne with project management structures on it.

Taken together, roughly 240 of the 350 new high-density acres are the golf course area and the road leases. The plan gives them a label that matches what's already there.

The 78 acres that were waiting are gone

The bigger change is smaller in acreage. The 2011 plan held 78 acres as Future or Inactive Recreation, which effectively reserved that land for later. The draft takes that category to zero and splits the land five ways:

• 28 acres along existing recreation areas become High Density Recreation
• 21 acres become Project Operations
• 19 acres north of Foothill Boulevard become Vegetative Management
• 7 acres become Low Density Recreation
• 3 acres near Holiday Lake become Environmentally Sensitive Area

The Corps says plainly why. The table notes that the change "was strongly suggested in comments from the scoping meeting," and then adds:

"Additionally, this will allow the City of Los Angeles more latitude managing the recreation aspects of HFCB and minimize barriers to future development."

Some ground that was protected moves the same way. A large section of Environmentally Sensitive Area inside Hansen Dam Park becomes High Density Recreation "due to the absence of resources meriting of ESA classification." Across the basin, 96 acres shift from sensitive to high density.

None of this builds anything. The environmental assessment's preferred alternative, which is adopting the plan, involves no ground-disturbing work. Any later ground-disturbing work on Corps property would go through its own evaluation and compliance review. The plan doesn't name a new facility, and it doesn't drop an existing use. What it changes is how much land a future City proposal could fit on without first changing the land's label.

Day to day, the basin runs the same as before. The Hansen Dam Aquatic Center lists its swim lake as closed until May 2027. The recreation lake, boating, kayaking and parking are listed as open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Protection shrinks in area and concentrates in specific places

Environmentally Sensitive Area drops from 721 acres to 590. It's still the largest single classification in the basin. The Corps says the reduction moves protection to the areas most critical for federally listed species. It also lets the Corps and its lease partners manage the remaining land more actively against invasive species.

The draft names three places where habitat management increases.

Between the eastern end of the dam and Tujunga Wash, 23 acres move from Environmentally Sensitive Area into a new Wildlife Management category that the 2011 plan never used. The label allows more hands-on work to improve habitat for federally listed species. The area is also used occasionally for project operations.

Near Holiday Lake, 3 acres that were held for future recreation become Environmentally Sensitive Area because federally listed species have been observed using them.

North of Foothill Boulevard, 19 acres become Vegetative Management. The Corps describes this as a remote corner of the basin "that will likely not be developed into an intensive recreation area."

Trail users get some ground too. A small sensitive area near Otis Wallace Children's Campground becomes Low Density Recreation because of "the numerous hiking trails present and the absence of resources of concern." A larger area west of the campground moves from future recreation to Low Density Recreation because of its trails.

The draft describes the existing trails as an extensive network of equestrian and multiuse routes. It includes the paved trail along the dam crest, a shared trail at the dam base and walking paths around the Recreation Lake.

Proposals to run the horse park are due in December too

While the Corps reworks the land map, the City is seeking a new contract to run one of the basin's biggest facilities. The Department of Recreation and Parks is taking proposals under RFP CON-M26-002 to operate the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, also called Hansen Dam Horse Park. The same RFP covers the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park and Stoney Point Ranch in Chatsworth. Each center will have its own agreement.

The two processes are linked by their dates. The City's lease from the Corps expires in 2044, so the Hansen Dam contract will run 20 years or until that lease ends, whichever comes first. The operator selected would run the horse park for most of the period the new master plan covers. The RFP says the center has had the same operator since a 2018 contract assignment.

For the first four years, the operator pays the City a percentage of gross receipts. From year five through year twenty, it pays that percentage or a minimum annual guarantee, whichever is greater. The minimum is based on the year-four fee. Proposals are due Dec. 7, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., according to the Foothill Trails District Neighborhood Council's notice.

Getting a comment in before Dec. 13

The draft plan, the environmental assessment, the map books showing the classification changes and a presentation video are all on the Corps' Hansen Dam project page. The proposed classification map is Map 20 in the map book. To comment:

1. Write your comment in any standard format, either an email or a letter.
2. Put "Hansen Dam Master Plan" clearly in the submission.
3. Email it to [email protected], or mail it to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, Operations Division - Hansen Dam, Attn: Master Plan Project Manager, 645 Durfee Ave, Bldg. #2, South El Monte, CA 91733.
4. Make sure it arrives by Dec. 13, 2026.

The neighborhood council also has two meetings before the deadline. The Equestrian committee meets Nov. 12 and the General Board meets Nov. 24, according to the FTDNC calendar.

I follow plans like this because they affect horse properties and the trail-access parcels around the basin long before anything gets built. If you ride out of Hansen Dam or own property near it and want to talk through what the new map could mean for your corner of Lake View Terrace, Ed Dorini is glad to go over it with you. Let's Connect.