I am proud to have received Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointment to the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. When I served on our Long Beach City Council, I was privileged to represent our city as Mayor O’Neill’s appointee.
Many are not familiar with the scope of work and the opportunities that relate to the Conservancy and what it does in the areas of environmental, water, wildlife, and wetlands education, as well as open space acquisition and preservation. When the Conservancy was created several years ago and the legislation approved, the need then and now still continues to be the necessity of having an organization that targets and helps to protect urban as well as rural open space and wildlife protection.
The geometric development of the Los Angeles and Orange County areas are testimony to the real fact that such rapid growth and expansion of housing and business has placed an enormous burden on local communities to rethink how to preserve and restore what little open space remains. The Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC) plays a significant role in partnering with the State and cities within its territory to assist in this enormous education and preservation effort.
The value and role of the RMC for our City of Long Beach as well as the other 67 cities in both counties is invaluable. What we do know is that by creating a regional authority such as the RMC, we now have an organization that can work to the benefit of all the territory as opposed to the time dating back several years ago where cities had to “go it alone.” Long Beach can seek assistance in developing park space or with wetlands acquisition and restoration.
Numerous future RMC projects include dealing with the massive mitigation effort to create river parks and open space along the Los Angeles River as we deal with the Interstate 710 reconstruction, and working with the Aquarium of the Pacific on future wetlands education and restoration projects. The San Gabriel River watershed, Los Cerritos Wetlands and Hellman Ranch endeavors are also top priorities.
Our web site entitled “The San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy” offers a broad and informative spectrum of useful information.
I am very excited about what lies ahead and confident that as time moves on, many citizens and residents will come to learn more about the value of the Conservancy and its partnerships and accomplishments.
Note: Frank Colonna was elected yesterday as the Vice-Chair of the Conservancy.