What does urban conservation look like?
25 years ago, when AFC started our conservation efforts in Altadena, there wasn’t a strict model of urban conservation to follow. For many, the word conservation conjured up images of Teddy Roosevelt, huge untouched swaths of wilderness, and pristine natural lands entirely separate from human habitation. But not only does this antiquated definition of conservation ignore indigenous land stewardship practices and ways of living, it doesn’t match the reality of conservation in cities, where undeveloped parcels are often under an acre and sandwiched between areas of human development. For the past twenty-five years, we’ve been working to answer this central question: what does urban conservation look like?
Biodiversity
Did you know that there are only 36 areas in the world that qualify as a biodiversity hotspot, and that Southern California is one of them? This term, pioneered by Conservation International, signifies a biologically rich and threatened area with a high percentage of plant life found nowhere else on Earth. Biodiversity unpins all life on Earth, and it’s vital we do everything we can to protect it. Starting right here in Los Angeles.Â
We are in a biodiversity crisis – over 1 million species are threatened by extinction and our planet is becoming increasingly unstable.
Preserving biodiversity on Earth is a moral responsibility to other species, and it’s a necessity for our own well-being. The diversity of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms is critical to maintaining healthy and balanced ecosystems that support life on earth, and it’s essential to the production of food, clean water, and habitable landscapes.
This is why we’re working to save natural habitat, and to plant native species in wild open space, residential areas, and public places. Native plants have co-evolved with local wildlife and thus vitally support the food web and balance of the ecosystems in which they exist.
These mutually dependent relationships have evolved over eons. By restoring native plants to open spaces, as well as yards, private and public gardens, parks, and other urban green spaces, we invite bees, insects, and birds to follow. This helps restore nature’s balance one plant at a time.
Learn more about biodiversity hotspots here.
The urban-wildland interface
We are not separate from nature, and it does not exist apart from us. We are interconnected, and nowhere is that clearer than at the edges of the urban-wildland interface. This is the area of our foothills: where natural habitat meets developed areas.
Pasadena
Pasadena features extraordinary open space corridors along both its western boundary at the Arroyo Seco, and its eastern boundary at Eaton Canyon and Eaton Wash. The Arroyo is home to the historic Rose Bowl, but the natural crown jewel of this area is the city-owned 300-acre Hahamongna Watershed Park. Hahamongna provides a natural gateway to the vast open space areas of the Angeles National Forest with its interconnected system of hiking trails and prime oak woodland.
These areas are already protected as public open space by the city or by Los Angeles County, but great open space acquisition and preservation opportunities remain in the city’s western canyonlands, most of which are still privately owned. We work to continue to preserve the roughly 200 acres of remaining open space land in this corridor.
Read more about our preserve in Pasadena:Â Cottonwood Canyon
altadena
Altadena has long been a hub of activity in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. In the late 19th and early 20th century it served as the point of embarkation for the Mount Lowe Railway, which ferried nearly 4 million people to the Rubio Pavilion Hotel, Echo Mountain House, Mount Lowe Tavern, and other destination sites in the foothills. Now, people enter the foothills from Altadena mostly on foot.
Altadena includes three major project areas, totaling about 500 acres of private land: the area from El Prieto to West Ravine, which includes Millard Canyon; Chaney Corridor, which includes Chiquita Canyon; and Rubio Canyon.
Read more about our preserves in Altadena: Rubio Canyon, Millard Canyon, & Chaney Trail
La Crescenta Valley
The Crescenta Valley is bordered by three separate coastal mountain ranges: the San Rafaels to the east, the Verdugos to the south and the San Gabriels to the north. Despite its proximity to these mountains, the unincorporated community of La Crescenta lacks access to them. The only public open space in the community is represented by its only park, the 8.5-acre Two-Strike Park.
Approximately one-half of the open space within La Crescenta is owned by Los Angeles County and devoted to flood control. The other half, over 300 acres, is privately owned. The land is composed of steep, chaparral-covered slopes, and features a number of lush oak woodland canyons with streams.
Read more about our Preserve in La Crescenta: Rosemont Preserve
altadena
Glendale is home to vast areas of open space in the San Gabriel Mountains on the north, the Verdugo Mountains on the west and San Rafael Hills on the east. Residents have access to these open spaces in Verdugo Park, the Las Flores Motorway and Deukmejian Wilderness Park. Wildlife seeking to pass between these areas travel through the city, picking their way among the houses and stepping stones of open space along the way. The biggest impediments are freeways – the Glendale, Ventura and Foothills freeways ring this beautiful city.Â
Read more about our properties in Glendale: Sunshine Preserve and Sycamore Canyon