Did you know about 80% of San Gabriel Valley residents’ water comes from our San Gabriel Mountains? Our Nature for All Community Education course participants in the San Gabriel Valley learned this and more during in August.
Our four-part course ended with a Watershed Tour, which traced our local water supply from high up in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, down the San Gabriel River watershed, with snowmelt and rain held back by dams in reservoirs, slowly released to spreading grounds to recharge our groundwater aquifer. We also visited local parks with innovative water capture (green infrastructure) designs which slow down and absorb precious rain water, before it rushes out to the sea.
During the course, community members learned about Nature for All and collaborators’ efforts to fund more local parks in high need areas (Measure A), local water resilience and projects in underserved areas (Measure W), public lands protections, stewardship and access to the San Gabriel Mountains. Participants learned about the importance of water conservation, park and stormwater design for underserved communities, and how to get more involved as a community ambassador in one of our next Leadership Development classes.
Thank you to the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District for partnering on the Water Warriors track specifically for Alhambra, Azusa, Monterey Park and Sierra Madre residents.
We will be offering another cycle of these courses this soon!
— Program Managers Bryan Matsumotoand Araceli Hernandez
