Southeast

PARK PURCHASE: Los Angeles County has bought 300 acres of rolling wilderness north of Whittier from Unocal Corp., and officials plan to set aside the area as parkland.

The county purchased the former oil field land, knows as Mineral Springs, for $3.7 million, part of $18-million set aside by the passage of Proposition A in 1992 for buying Whittier Hills land.

Whittier City Manager Tom Mauk said the purchase is the second step toward forming what officials hope will be a 3,000-acre park in Whittier Hills. He said visitors will be able to tour the area once city officials develop trails and park facilities in the hills, perhaps in the next year.