A nearly $1 million grant from the National Parks Service will help recreational areas in the Santa Monica Mountains remain open and avoid cuts in services, officials said Tuesday.

The $939,169 grant to the Angeles District of California State Parks will allow parks in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to operate at last year's service levels, said Woody Smeck, the NPS superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

"By granting these funds, our desire is to maintain the efficiency of the national parks while providing for public enjoyment and use of the interlocking state and national parks that exist in the Santa Monica Mountains," Smeck said.

These state parks include Leo Carrillo, Topanga, Will Rogers, Point Dume, Malibu Creek, Point Mugu and Thornhill Bloom. The parks get 3million to 4million visitors each year. The grant will keep the parks open with full services for a year.

"We dodged the bullet for one more year," said state Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. "The question is whether we can find a dedicated revenue stream, not dependent on the general fund, to keep our state parks open and maintain them in a way the public deserves."

The State Parks Foundation may sponsor a ballot initiative in November 2010 to increase park funding, Pavley said.

The federal grant comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a

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plan earlier this year to close a handful of state parks and reduce services and hours at others. In August, state parks day-use fees increased by $2 to $5 and camping fees increased by $10 to $21 a night to offset budget cuts.

Without the federal grant, state parks officials would have had to reduce services at the parks in the Santa Monica Mountains by closing bathrooms and reducing the hours of operation.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky posted a story about the federal grant on his Web site, http://zev.lacounty.gov.

"The national parks and state parks are integrated," Yaroslavsky said. "You can't close one without impacting the other. The federal government has an interest in making sure the status quo is maintained. So this is a relief for us in the Santa Monica Mountains.

"It's a godsend, frankly, and we're grateful to the National Parks Service and to Woody Smeck who really fought hard to get these funds."