It was once slated to become yet another suburban gated community with a bucolic name in the northern reaches of Porter Ranch and Chatsworth.

But on Friday, there was little doubt that the 257-acre swath of hills near the Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Facility was to remain what it has long been — the home of the oaks, mountain lions, southern spotted owls and other flora and fauna.

A blessing ceremony by the Tataviam tribe marked the occasion, a dedication of the new parkland attended by state and county officials who had pooled their resources to buy the property last November from a developer that wanted to build a gated community of 188 luxury homes on that land.

The housing development was to be called Hidden Creeks Estates. Now the name Hidden Creeks is being used to refer to the newly established parkland in an unincorporated part of Porter Ranch, at Browns Canyon Road north of the 118 Freeway at De Soto Avenue.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. Speakers included Paul Edelman, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Joseph T. Edmiston, Executive Director, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Craig Campbell, Starwood Land Advisors, Rudy Ortega Jr., Tribal President, Fernando Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, Irma Munoz, Chair, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, John Donnelly, Executive Director, California Wildlife Conservation Board, Kathryn Barger, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 5th District and Henry Stern, California State Senator, 27th District. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A Tataviam blessing was given by Alan Salazar. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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A Tataviam blessing and song were given by Rudy Ortega Jr., Alan Salazar and Mark Villasenor. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A couple look at maps of the area before the ceremony. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Kathryn Barger, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 5th District , speaks during the ceremony. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Henry Stern, California State Senator, 27th District speaks during the ceremony. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. Speakers included Joseph T. Edmiston, Executive Director, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Rudy Ortega Jr., Tribal President, Fernando Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, Irma Munoz, Chair, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, John Donnelly, Executive Director, California Wildlife Conservation Board, Kathryn Barger, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 5th District and Henry Stern, California State Senator, 27th District. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Lupine grows next to a trail. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)



A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at DeSoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, February 22, 2020, officially opened the 257-acre, $6.7 million Hidden Creeks parkland in the Chatsworth Hills. The space is located in Browns Canyon Road above the 118 Freeway at Desoto Avenue. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

It joins 11,000 acres of open space also under the care and possession of the Mountains and Recreation Conservation Authority. The Hidden Creeks land belongs to the Santa Susana Pass intermountain range habitat linkage that connects the Simi Hills to the Santa Susana Mountains, according to the state.

Efforts to preserve the land has been more than a decade in the making, but the $6.7 million purchase deal was finally struck just a month after the Saddleridge Fire had raced uncomfortably close to the natural gas storage that had experienced a massive, months-long leak in 2015, and several gated communities in Porter Ranch, some still under construction.

The county paid $1.6 million, the state footed $4.9 million, and the MRCA and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy put in $200,000 to buy the land.

State Sen. Henry Stern, who was on hand Friday to mark the opening of the park, said last November that the open space would “ensure that our precious wildlife can traverse a land they recognize as their own.”

“By protecting Hidden Creeks, the board (Wildlife Conservation Board) has chosen to treat our flora and fauna with the respect it deserves and prevented further urban development in high-risk fire areas,” Stern said.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said last November that the county parks department will build trail networks through the Hidden Creeks parkland.

The Hidden Creeks Estates housing project had long faced opposition, and efforts to purchase the land have spanned more than a decade. Last January, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning received about 150 letters on the project. A Facebook page called “Citizens Against The Hidden Creeks Development,” had garnered 155 “likes.” And environmental groups — including Santa Susana Mountain Park Association, the Sierra Club and Save Porter Ranch — opposed the development.

City News Service contributed to this story.