Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area

Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area

The alternative

Restore. Renovate. Recognize.

These three words are the key to a new chapter in the story of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area and its role as an important environmental, educational, historical and cultural resource.

Rather than waste tens of millions of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars on an unpopular, costly and environmentally destructive meeting facility for water district executives and bureaucrats, the agencies and water districts of the San Gabriel River Discovery Center should focus on an economical, community-focused and environmentally appropriate alternative. We at the Friends and others concerned with the negative impacts of the Discovery Center have developed the following three-part proposal:

Restore the Whittier Narrows Natural Area

A well-planned restoration must become the priority at the Natural Area and begin as soon as possible.

In the 10 years the Discovery Center has been in the works, the authority (and its predecessor steering committee) has spent little or nothing on preservation or restoration of the Natural Area, instead taking nearly every dollar intended for ecological improvements and locking it up in a construction project.

But restoration could enhance an already unique and valuable resource while providing powerful learning opportunities for students, green jobs for workers, and wonderful volunteer opportunities for groups and individuals in the community.

And the model already exists.

In Los Angeles' Baldwin Hills, the Los Angeles Audubon Society has partnered with Dorsey High School to create an innovative restoration internship and leadership program for students.

And students in UCLA's environmental science program are incorporating the Baldwin Hills into their studies, conducting field studies there as part of a required three-term practicum.

Restoration work could benefit the habitat and wildlife while providing paid employment and training for organizations such as the California Conservation Corps and opportunities for civic engagement for volunteers from the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other community groups--right in their own neighborhood.

Renovate the Whittier Narrows Nature Center

Renovation of the historic Whittier Narrows Nature Center, and expansion through underused buildings and structures, would be the most economical, environmentally friendly and community-focused option for enhancing the facilities at the Natural Area. Additionally, a renovated nature center would compliment, rather than dominate, the numerous other environmental education programs in the area.

Once again, the model already exists.

In 2009, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation Russ Guiney helped to rededicate the Placerita Canyon Nature Center after a $2.1-million eco-friendly renovation. According to Santa Clarita’s Signal newspaper, Guiney -- who is also a member of the Discovery Center Authority board -- “said the ‘new’ nature center is an example of how to integrate green technology with existing structures.”

And unlike the proposed Discovery Center, which would require the destruction of important wildlife habitat and would move us in the wrong direction on resource use and on global climate change, a renovated nature center would provide a true model of the conservation ethic.

If the Discovery Center is built, energy use, water use and the production of greenhouse gas emissions will explode. But a renovated nature center could actually reduce resource use over current levels and act as a model of renovation and energy efficiency for homeowners, small-business owners and others.

The nature center buildings, built in the 1950s or earlier, are already models of adaptive reuse and deserve another lifetime of service to the community as models of conservation. As Richard Moe, of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said, “Preserving a building is the ultimate act of recycling.”

Recognize historic Whittier Narrows

The Natural Area, larger Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo have a historical and cultural importance that reaches from the Gabrieleno/Tongva people centuries before the arrival of Europeans to the diverse communities that today call the area home. This importance should be recognized through historic landmark status.

In the late 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted and published a Whittier Narrows Flood Control Basin Historic Resources Survey in which its researchers said: "Serious consideration should be given to creating a Whittier Narrows State Historical Park. . . ."

The survey pointed to the site of original San Gabriel Mission, the site of one of the last battles of the Mexican War in 1847, oil exploration and production in Montebello and filming locations -- in the present-day Natural Area -- for the groundbreaking and controversial film, Birth of a Nation.

In more recent decades, Whittier Narrows has served as a focal point of recreation for the working-class Hispanic communities of the area. Significant figures for whom Whittier Narrows has been important include U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and celebrated author Luis J. Rodriguez.

The Natural Area itself has served as a wildlife sanctuary for more than 70 years, since its founding by the National Audubon Society as the organization's first such facility in the West and only its second in the nation.

In the 1950s, at the dedication of the buildings that would become the Whittier Narrows Nature Center, Audubon President John H. Baker called the wildlife sanctuary an "oasis in the midst of industrial and residential developments."

His sentiment is even truer today, and every acre of the Natural Area and Recreation Area more precious. This is why we urge that these jewels be "restored, renovated and recognized."

Last updated or reviewed on 1/18/10.

Whittier Narrows Natural Area