There's an old oak grove in Arcadia for the moment, though it's likely to be gone tomorrow. It's called the Arcadia Woodlands. But unless something drastic happens, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (same folks we discussed here) is going to dump 500,000 cubic yards of debris on it starting...pretty much now.
I guess they'll have to change the name of the Arcadia Woodlands. Arcadia means " any real or imaginary place offering peace and simplicity." I don't know what they're going to call it once it's a dump.
If you want to help preserve the Arcadia Woodlands, there are some good suggestions at the end of this informative post from LA Creek Freak. It's late, but worth a try.
We in Pasadena still have our Oak Grove Park, adjacent to Hahamongna Watershed Park. We can still even call it an oak grove. But I recommend we don't get cocky.
Other blogs participating today:
Altadena Hiker
Ballona Blog
Bipediality
Breathing Treatment
Chance of Rain
Echo Landscape Design
Greensward Civitas
Greymatters
L. A. Creek Freak
L.A. Ecovillage Blog
L.A. Ecovillage Gardener's Weblog
Pasadena Adjacent
Pasadena Daily Photo
Pasadena Real Estate With Brigham Yen
Slow Water Movement
Temple City Daily Photo
The Sky is Big in Pasadena
Weeding Wild Suburbia
Also, Arcadia Patch is giving this issue excellent coverage.
28 comments:
Beautiful location and shot, Petrea, but the future is pretty bleak. As California goes, so goes the rest of our country. So sad...
A dump? But that's a real conundrum; what do we do with all the "stuff" that we use and discard!? Have to come up with some inventive way to get rid of our garbage; so far that hasn't happened.
I really like the rocks in your photo.
Good morning Genie and Kate. I think we have to come up with alternatives, and in this case we have them. From what I understand of the story, the county is not considering them.
We're an innovative, intelligent society. We've sent computers to Mars! We can figure out an alternative to dumping garbage in the forest as Kate says. I'm betting the reason we haven't done so is that it's not financially advantageous.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Petrea. It makes me so angry. DWP seems to be hellbent on slipping through plans that ravage the local environment. I need to be more vigilant about staying informed of their actions.
I just signed the petition. I'll call and write a letter too.
How did you sign it, Susan? To be honest I couldn't figure out how to do it.
There's a "Sign the petition" button at the bottom of this page:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-arcadia-woodlands.html
It's great that many of you bloggers are uniting on this issue. I signed the petition a few days ago, and hope that Mike Antonovich makes the right choice and turns away the chainsaws that are already amassed at the woodland entrance. The alternative to dumping all the silt filling up the Santa Anita dam is to truck it to Irwindale, but the residents nearby don't want the traffic, and I bet the Flood Control folks don't want the cost. Let's hope the Hahamongna mud doesn't get dumped all over the oak groves to save the cost of trucking it away.
How sad to read about this. «Louis» thinks your summary of the situation is probably spot-on.
Very disheartening.
By the way, the brown area at the front of your photo was once part of the Oak Grove but is now an "overflow" car park that is often full of vehicles even when there's room in the main car park. Not sure how they got away with that.
Thank you Petrea!
Stop Press: We've lost! They will start cutting down the forest on Wednesday January 12. (And they've posted guards at the entrance to the area in case we try to chain ourselves to the trees).
We know it's late, but it ain't over 'til it's over, Bellis.
I hope those Arcadia citizens who don't like temporary truck traffic on their streets are pleased with themselves. How is it that they prevailed? Why do they get to ruin Arcadia's natural treasures to the detriment of the rest of the city?
Thank you for this (beautiful) post.
I recommend phoning Supervisor Mike Antonovich's office after 2:30 today and speaking to Susie,
1-213-974-5555.
I called Mike Antonovich's office at the number Bellis listed and spoke to Tony Bell. He said they'll review the report they just received from the Dept of Public Works and Monday. He suggested calling back then. It doesn't sound promising though.
You can read the report here:
http://portal.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/omd
3rd link: Board Motion of December 7, 2010 Agenda Item 57-B Santa Anita Dam riser Modification & Reservoir Sediment Removal Project
Signed.
The Station Fire; sure didn't see all of this extended grief coming. Another day, another protest. You've got to fight to keep it.
I posted the links, if you'd like to check out the other blogs.
This is so dispiriting, especially when the citizens of Arcadia have been protesting all along and have even come up with viable alternatives.
Be nice when you call Antonovich. He's been sympathetic and I get the impression he's willing to help if he can.
Greensward jumped in, too, and the Tattler has been the host blog for Caroline Brown's community activism on this, so it will be added this evening.
Thanks, Laurie. I updated my post and notified Jessica Hall at LA Creek Freak, who has been running this show.
To those subscribed: Greensward Civitas has a level head. Good post, gives an understanding as to what's needed--and NOT needed here. Ms. Barlow knows her stuff.
Signed the petition and let me know if you do another blog day - I will be happy to contribute.
In addition to the beauty of a forest, which you captured so well in your photo, at a time when many within local and national government are pledging to "lower our carbon footprint" the idea of cutting down trees (which take in carbon - for free!) is just insane.
Good luck to you all. Y'all really know how to get organized for a good cause.
Thanks, Dina. It's one thing I love about the web.
Gina, it's not too late to add your voice.
I've updated this post with more blog links; several more have joined the effort. Also the link to Arcadia Patch, which is covering the issue.
In addition to calling Supervisor Antonovich's office, he also has a Twitter account at @mikeantonovich.
Also, why are the Arcadia city leaders so silent on the issue? Hiding under a rock is not a good leadership quality.
Thanks, Keith. I'm following him now.
I don't know much about the Arcadia city leaders. Lately I understand 1) they're allowing people to trap and kill coyotes when experience tells us this is a losing battle and 2) they've said nothing about the Arcadia Woodlands yet persecuted a woman for removing a single tree from her yard. I am not impressed.
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