Conservation and Environmental Justice

The San Gabriel Valley is home to mountains, rivers, and open spaces that too many communities have been cut off from for too long. Active San Gabriel Valley works with local and national partners to protect these natural resources, including the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers, while also advocating for the infrastructure that makes them accessible. As part of the Nature For All coalition, we are committed to permanently protecting these lands and waters, building a new generation of environmental stewards, and ensuring that everyone in the San Gabriel Valley has access to the outdoors.

San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Expansion

On May 2nd, 2024 President Biden used his authority under the Antiquities Act to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument near Los Angeles. The expanded monument includes 105,919 acres considered the “gateway” to the Angeles National Forest and the National Monument.

The expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument will help ensure equitable access to nature, conserve a critical drinking water source for Los Angeles County, address the climate and biodiversity crisis, contribute to state and federal goals to conserve 30% of lands and coastal waters by 2030, and honor the landscape’s cultural and historical significance.

Along with the news of the Monument expansion, over $1 million in corporate, philanthropic, and state government support was awarded to help ensure equitable access to and sustainable recreation within the Monument. Leading philanthropies, business, and state government are committing over $1 million in support of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest Stewardship Network, (formerly the San Gabriel Mountains Community Collaborative),  to continue to promote equitable access to and sustainable recreation within the monument. Supporters include REI Co-op, Resources Legacy Fund, the Rivian Foundation, Western Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, the Wyss Foundation, and the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, which is part of the California Natural Resources Agency. 

The California State Water Resources Control Board also plans to fund efforts to reduce discharges of trash and other pollutants along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, providing a cleaner and healthier watershed to recreate in. And the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy is investing $2.5 million in enhancement and access efforts along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, part of the National Monument. Construction is anticipated to start on the San Gabriel River Confluence with Cattle Canyon Improvements Project (also known as the “East Fork Project”) in 2024, with improvements including safe and dedicated access trails to the river and recreational amenities like stairs, restrooms, trash bins, picnic tables, and formalized parking.

Momentum also continues to grow around stewardship of these lands, with youth field rangers and outdoor apprentices slated to work in highly visited areas of the Forest and the National Monument. 

Over 18 million people live within a 90-mile radius of these public lands. The San Gabriel Mountains are the backyard for many urban and culturally diverse communities in Los Angeles County that have limited access to green spaces in their neighborhoods. The newly expanded monument now includes popular trails and places of interest such as the Cobb Estate, Eaton Canyon, the historic Sam Merrill Trail, Millard Canyon, and Brown Mountain.

“Our local community is overjoyed to see this next step in a 20-year effort to permanently protect the San Gabriel Mountains,” said Belén Bernal, Executive Director, Nature for All. “The area included in the expanded San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is the closest section of the National Forest to the San Fernando Valley; this action helps ensure environmental justice for communities who lack access to green and open spaces throughout Los Angeles County. Thank you, President Biden, for taking this action to benefit the health and well-being of millions of Angelenos and to Vice President Harris for championing the protection of these special public lands!”

The expansion is supported by 115 elected officials, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, Los Angeles County, and the Cities of Alhambra, Baldwin Park, Duarte, Glendale, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Maywood, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Pomona, Pico Rivera, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, South El Monte, South Pasadena, and Sun Valley.

Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Laphonza Butler, and Representative Judy Chu previously called on the President to expand the monument and introduced legislation to achieve this goal. Vice President Kamala Harris also championed similar legislation when she served as California’s Senator. In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held a listening session during which hundreds of attendees called on the Administration to take action.

About the Nature for All Coalition and San Gabriel Mountains Forever

The Nature for All Coalition, made up of local and national nonprofits, works to protect the public lands and green, open spaces around Los Angeles, and create opportunities for Angelenos to connect and care for nature. 

Beginning in 2000, Nature for All - alongside many national and state environmental groups - began working to build an extraordinary collaboration between social justice, immigrant, religious, veteran, business, recreationist, environmental, and civic organizations, as well as water entities and elected officials. Together, these organizations are helping to secure the protections and recreational access improvements necessary to meet the needs of over 18 million people in the Los Angeles region.

San Gabriel Mountains Forever is an initiative of Nature for All, formed in 2008. The effort focuses on protecting the public lands and rivers of the San Gabriel Mountains forever to ensure equitable access to the outdoors for the region’s residents.