Arroyo River Parks Proram (ARPP)

Green space, park access, and trees

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Much of the Los Angeles River Watershed has been altered by concrete channels that have robbed residents of their sense of nature and devastated ecosystem function. Our communities do not have access to a natural river that can support aquatic life and foster biodiversity. The channelization provided some flood protection but robbed our communities of their natural heritage. We lost habitat, wildlife, and tremendous opportunities for people to appreciate nature. Our mission in making Los Angeles a better place to live is to bolster public support to restore the Arroyo Seco stream and provide connectivity of 30 parks and open spaces on the stream to build a renewed environment from the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains to the intersection of the Arroyo Seco stream and the Los Angeles River. While ensuring flood protection and public safety, we aim to restore a living river and bring back the endangered Southern Steelhead to the Arroyo and the Los Angeles River Watershed.

The Arroyo River Parks Program (ARPP) will develop a powerful community outreach campaign and education program to build support, promote involvement, and establish a working relationship with the officials and agencies that will reshape the future of the Arroyo Seco and the LA River for the next hundred years.. We aim to reestablish a living river by: 1) Connecting the parks and riverfront projects to the river itself;
2) Enhancing wildlife, recreation, and habitat corridors throughout the urbanized stretch of the Arroyo Seco from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Confluence with the LA River near downtown Los Angeles;
3) Restoring a nature-based, holistic watershed approach to river management and restoration. ARPP Principles
● Integrate parks with the river and the river with the parks
● Manage parks and open spaces to aid flood protection, water conservation, and quality
● Naturalize the stream and floodplain to restore riparian and aquatic habitat
● Expand the trail network to connect parks, wildlife, open spaces, and cultural resources
● Provide interpretive signage and educational programs to make the Arroyo an educational laboratory for Southern California

Rivers and nature have a soothing and restorative quality that improves the health of communities and people. AARP will educate residents about the importance of our parks and streams. ARRP will reconnect people with nature
Many residents have been robbed of their sense of wonder and respect for nature. ARRP will enrich the sense of nature in participants and teach people how they can be better stewards of water and natural resources.
It will provide a model for valuing water resources and nature that can be applied to streams and canyons in Los Angeles County. The dry conditions and droughts of recent years are likely to become the new normal in the era of climate change. Nature-based solutions are vital to future water resiliency.
By working with nature in our plans and projects, we seek to enhance local water resources, native plant habitats, wildlife, and to advance the overall quality of life in both our natural and urban communities.

The real test of the effectiveness of this campaign will be the extent to which we have influenced public support for the restoration of a living stream in the Arroyo Seco.
How many people attend the workshops? How many people provide comments on the alternatives? How many governmental agencies and stakeholder organizations co-sponsor the workshops;?
How many volunteer hours for cleanups and action projects;
Survey participants
In building public support we want to work with as many schools, government agencies, and other non-profit organizations as we can to educate them on the Arroyo Seco Stream restoration plan and our wider effort in the ARPP. Ultimately ARRP will be evaluated by measurements such as how many miles of wildlife corridor have been established, how many tons of concrete have been removed from the stream, how many fish have returned to the stream, and other lofty goals. This phase is primarily to build public and institutional support for the long-term goals.