Coal Canyon Added to Chino Hills State Park  A 1,500 home housing development was stopped in favor of more protected land in the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor.  The additional 649 acres protects a critical link for wildlife to travel from the Santa Ana mountains into Chino Hills State Park and beyond.  The Angeles Chapter was instrumental in forming the necessary alliances which made this purchase of land a reality.

Victory at Bolsa Chica  The hard-won campaign, resulting in a much more responsible vision for this sensitive area near Huntington Beach, has given rise to a new agency, the "Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project."  The Angeles Chapter helped coordinate this effort, protecting habitat for raptors, coyotes, and other species.

Newhall Ranch  This development was cited in the Wall Street Journal as the poster child for urban sprawl.  Our successful lawsuit stopped the proposed development in its tracks and also set an important legal precedent.

In 2001 State Controller Kathleen Connell declined to grant Playa Vista developers an extension on their ten year old option to purchase back 73 acres of state land at Ballona.  She asked them for a check instead, which they could not afford to give, so the public now has the first 73 acres of land at Ballona they can now access.  Sierra Club joined Wetlands Action Network, Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, Ballona Valley Preservation League, Santa Monica Baykeeper and Ballona Ecosystem Education Project as the State Controller and Actor Ed Begley, Jr., took down the developer's fence and 55 private property signs on the perimeter of the land in March, and they formed a new collaborative
"Ballona Wetlands Stewards" which invites the community to participate in clean-ups restoration work on the land each month.

The 193 acres now for sale, combined with 73 acres of already owned state land equals 166 acres of land that was previously planned for development.  Add that to the 240 acres of land already protected by a legal settlement with another environmental group, and if the developer does not get too greedy and want too high of a price, the public will now enjoy 506 acres of land at Ballona.  Sierra Club activists continue to work to protect more land at Ballona, with a goal of 1,087 acres in their sights.

Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission for approving road construction on wetlands areas at Ballona.  A special plant, the Seaside Heliotrope, is at the heart of
protection of the wetlands in this litigation that could provide a significantly precedential issue throughout the state of California.

Buildings use 60% of electricity and generate about 1/3 of global warming emissions in the U.S. They also use significant amounts of wood products and water, often are built with materials containing toxic chemicals, and generate significant amounts of construction waste.

Moreover, Green Building -- an effort to minimize those adverse environmental impacts -- is a relatively new phenomenon, and like other start-up ventures needs to be nurtured and pushed along in order to become in demand. As of the year 2000, for example, only 12 certified green buildings had been constructed nationwide. Currently there are only 3 or 4 constructed in the greater Los Angeles area.