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Message from Our Executive Director
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It is always beautiful to get outside again and enjoy time in nature every Spring! With the abundance of rain we received this winter, our region is experiencing a super bloom—that rare and vibrant occurrence of more wildflowers blooming on the sides of hillsides and along trails. We have already seen wildflowers and flowing waterfalls on some of our hikes.
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At the same time, the abundance of rain makes us pause to think about climate resilience and the impact this has on many communities who experience extreme flooding throughout our region. Our team is excited to continue to increase access to public lands and build diverse environmental leaders who learn about public land protection, watershed health, climate resilience and much more. We look forward to continuing to increase knowledge about these topics and to inspire leaders to help us advocate for the protection of our local San Gabriel Mountains and open spaces!
The first time I experienced a waterfall was when a friend invited me to Switzer Falls during our high school years. It was also my first time visiting local public lands in the United States. As someone who grew up in South Gate, my early experiences with nature were the tomato, corn ,and watermelon orchards my father was excited to grow in our own home. Drives to local South Gate Park were part of some weekends, and with larger gatherings we visited Santa Fe Dam, Whittier Narrows ,and others places in the I.E.
I had my first experience driving through canyons and playing in a river for the first time during a family trip to Jalisco, Mexico. We hear about many first-time nature experiences like this from community members we take on our trips to the San Gabriel Mountains, parks, and beaches. Too many of our communities lack parks and green spaces, which makes our work to connect community members to nature so vital. Everyone, regardless of their physical abilities, time, wealth, income, zip code, or ethnic background, deserves the opportunity to connect with nature and reap its rewards.
I am excited for the break in weather to enjoy more time outdoors with family and our community members. Hope to have you join us at one of our future events!
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—Belén Bernal, Nature for All Executive Director
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We are excited to announce that we received a grant from the Parks California Adventure Pass program! This grant will allow us to facilitate All Aboard for Nature trips for fourth grade students and their families to visit Chino Hills State Park this year. Chino Hills State Park is a critical link in the Chino-Puente Hills wildlife corridor, and a major botanical habitat reserve for local and migrating wildlife.
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The City Nature Challenge begins Friday, April 28! Join to take and share photos of nature in your surroundings—and for an event in Hollydale Regional Park on Saturday, April 29, 10 am to noon. You can participate with us in the BioBlitz of the Lower Los Angeles River as part of the challenge. The event is open to the public and high school participants are eligible to receive volunteer hours/credit.
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Univision 34 TV featured our work and interviewed Program Manager Omar Gomez in a report on how the lack of trees in our communities is a public health crisis; how vital it is to have green spaces; and why we are committed to developing leaders in our communities to become climate-resilient.
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We had the first meeting of our Leadership Academy Cohort 20! Participants came from all over the greater Los Angeles area: Puvungna (Long Beach), Shevaanga (Montebello), Pimokangna (Burbank), Tibahangna (Lakewood), Awingna (La Puente), Toibinga (Pomona) and places whose names have been lost from written record or memory.
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We hosted a bike ride along the LA River Bikeway with Healthy Active Streets! A big thank you to everyone who joined us and a special thanks to Conservation Corps of Long Beach for giving us a tour of one of our local gems, DeForest Park.
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Thanks also to Healthy Active Streets for providing bicycles for adoption and to Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and The Watershed Conservation Authority for making this program possible.
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Vote in the LA2050 Grants Challenge to help support Nature for All's work. $1M goes to the top-voted issues!
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Our community ambassadors joined Panorama City community members and Best Start Panorama City and Neighbors for a park clean-up to clear trash, debris, and bulky items from Tobias Park.
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We encourage you to keep informed about campaign updates as we seek to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in the months ahead! The Nature for All Coalition is ready to continue to advocate for the protection of our local mountains, rivers, and open spaces for the benefit of the 17 million+ Angelenos who live within one hour of the area. As a collective and via our organizations, we look forward to connecting more people to public lands, through more trails, leadership training activities, and outdoor recreational activities to address equitable access to nature and improvements to our public health and wellbeing.
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Nature for All acknowledges the indigenous peoples of the ancestral homelands, where we live and deliver our mission. We value the vibrant indigenous communities and honor the Gabrielino-Tongva, Kizh, and Shoshone Nations of Southern California, the Fernandeno Tataviam, Serrano, and Chumash, as the original caretakers of the lands and waterways of what is now Los Angeles County. Public education about indigenous cultures and acknowledgement of ancestral homelands is critical. Nature for All strives to uplift the voices of the first peoples of our region. We believe that any action that demonstrates otherwise is disrespectful to the history, culture and living descendants of indigenous peoples. To learn more about the ancestral homelands please visit: https://native-land.ca and learn more from LA County.
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Your gift to Nature for All helps build community-based leaders who care about the protection of public lands and open spaces in our region and communities! Your support allows us to introduce many first-time visitors to nature, learn more about public lands, local spaces in nature, watershed health and conservation, and climate resilience. Thank you!
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