San Gabriel River tour shows leaders river area's potential

On April 2, Angeles Chapter staff and volunteers from the San Gabriel River Campaign gave a tour of the campaign's newest project proposal: the Emerald Necklace.

The Emerald Necklace is a network of urban parks (green jewels) connected by trails (the necklace strand) in the San Gabriel Valley. The Necklace will connect 10 cities and serve 500,000 residents, and will bring to Los Angeles the kind of park experience so many urban residents long for. The Necklace picks up where Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Central Park in New York City and had a vision for a lush Los Angeles, left off in the 1930s.

In attendance on the tour were media reporters; U.S. Forest Service staff; representatives from local elected leaders, city managers, parks and recreation and police staff and council members; community activists; and representatives from water, conservation, and wildlife agencies.

Some of the Emerald Necklace parks already exist, and others the campaign is creating right now. Some highlights of the Emerald Necklace include:

Ó The Peck Road Water Conservation Park on the Rio Hondo, currently being transformed from an abandoned mining pit filled with water to a park full of trails, gardens, native and drought-resistant plant landscaping around a mile-long 'lake.'

Ó Alhambra Wash, currently a box channel tributary of the Rio Hondo. Volunteers have obtained funding to study the removal of concrete from the channel to create a natural braided stream running through a golf course. This would set a precedent for removing concrete from Los Angeles-area rivers.

Ó The San Gabriel River Discovery Center, a natural and cultural history museum and campus that will tell the story of the San Gabriel River. The center will be constructed using the latest in green building technologies to demonstrate the educational message of resource conservation.

Ó San Jose Creek, a tributary of the San Gabriel River, got one step closer to natural when volunteers planted native plants along its banks last year. This successful project serves as a model for other stretches of riverside slopes waiting for native plant restoration.

Ó The Woodland Wilderness Park is the name campaign volunteers have given the future of the Woodland Farms Duck Farm, purchased by the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for conservation purposes in 2004. Volunteers are creating a vision for this future park, a 57-acre parcel of open space directly adjacent to the San Gabriel River near where the 605 and 60 freeways meet.

Ó Trails form the link between these 'emerald jewels' or urban parks. Los Angeles County multi-use trails exist in some areas, but connections need to be made. The trails are popular for joggers, bicyclists, and equestrians. Once completed, the trail loop that forms the Emerald Necklace will be 17 miles long.

The San Gabriel River Campaign is active in the San Gabriel River Watershed-along the San Gabriel River, Rio Hondo, and their tributaries. The campaign seeks to:

Ó Create riverside greenbelts of public park space

Ó Restore the watershed's natural functioning

Ó Promote the cultural heritage and historic significance of the area

Ó Promote wise management and conservation of water resources

Ó Raise awareness in and solicit support from river communities.