By Jennifer McLain It's not like the county approved money for rain dancers. Not yet, anyway.

STAMPING land as "open space" doesn't mean it will stay untouched. In fact, even labeling land as a preserve, a park or as part of the federal national forest won't prevent strip mining, oil drilling, timber harvesting, the erecting of electrical towers or high-rise condos.

By Sue Doyle Wild, mountainous territory stretching over 500,000 acres around the San Fernando Valley and beyond could become part of protected federal parkland following a feasibility study signed into law Thursday by President Bush.

By ALLEN THOMAS Here is a look at some of the details, by ranger district, of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest's proposed five-year recreational facilities plan: Mount Adams Beaver, Cold Spring Indian campgrounds - Replace toilet buildings.

By PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM CANYON COUNTRY -- Among the flora and fauna that make the Bear Divide area one of the region's prettiest are makeshift dumps of discarded building materials, toilets, sinks and other trash.