Revitalization of San Gabriel River is under way

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River to roll along
Revitalization of San Gabriel is under way
Fred Ortega Staff Writer



It may not seem like it, but the greening of the San Gabriel River has already begun in earnest.

Even as the County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a 30-year master plan for the revitalization of the waterway on June 13, some of the roughly 130 projects delineated in the plan were already being built. Others are in the design and planning stages.

In South El Monte, the Thienes Avenue Gateway Project will be finished by the end of the month, said Daniel Bobadilla, associate civil engineer for the County Department of Public Works' Watershed Management Division.

The $259,000 improvement - a partnership between the county, the city of South El Monte and the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy - will include a rest area, seating, native landscaping and a drinking fountain at the entrance to the San

Click image for larger view.

Gabriel River Regional Riding and Hiking Trail.

Also in the construction phases are the Paseo del Rio projects at the San Gabriel Coastal Basin and Rio Hondo spreading grounds, Bobadilla said. A joint effort by County Public Works and the city of Pico Rivera, both projects will surround the lake-like area with new bike trails, native and drought-tolerant landscaping, picnic shelters and other park-like amenities.

The final approval of the county master plan should go a long way toward bringing more riverside projects closer to reality, Bobadilla said.

"It gives these projects advantages in acquiring funding," he said. "Granting agencies look at this, and they are more likely to fund a project involved as part of a bigger overall plan as opposed to a single project on its own."

Among the other projects mentioned in the plan moving beyond the conceptual phase is the proposed Azusa River Wilderness Park at the entrance to the Angeles National Forest in Azusa Canyon. The Rivers and Mountains Conservancy has already purchased the 40-acre El Encanto property earlier this year and plans to use the $3.5million parcel as the basis for the park, said Belinda Faustinos, the group's executive officer.

"This is probably one of the most natural vistas of the river that you can get," said Faustinos, whose group plans to move its headquarters from Alhambra to the vacant El Encanto restaurant on the site in September. "We plan on making it an even more natural setting, providing overlooks, and entering into partnerships with the Equestrian Center to provide more public access."

The park, which officials hope will eventually cover 80 acres, will go a long way toward making up for a dearth of recreational space in Azusa, Assistant City Manager Robert Person said.

"Once we can assemble \ we can start looking at funding to start programming the park," Person said. "We already have a bike trail extension nearby that is operational, and we have a groundbreaking for a new forest interpretive center at the corner of Highway 39 and Ranch Road in July, with completion expected within a year."

Besides final approval of the master plan, funding for river projects could get a boost from a $5.4 billion bond measure on the November ballot that could yield at least $51million for the conservancy, Faustinos added.

"There are lots of competing measures, but voters have been very supportive of parks and water bonds in the past, so we will see what happens," said Faustinos, whose group is also involved in the proposed $26 million San Gabriel River Discovery Center at Whittier Narrows Park. The conservancy has already allocated $3million to the center and has received $1 million more from the Upper San Gabriel and Central Basin municipal water districts.

"The county is funding all the environmental review work, which will take about a year," said Faustinos, who hoped construction on the center can begin by 2009, depending on the funding situation. The project, now in the planning phase, will replace the aging Whittier Narrows Nature Center and feature a environmentally "green" building with an indoor-outdoor museum.

Tomas Bernal was out Sunday morning, riding his bike along the river in South El Monte.

He liked the idea of making some improvements at Thienes Avenue Gateway Project.

"Anything they do for recreation is good," the 62-year-old Whittier resident said, adding he'd like to see some restrooms and places to get drinking water.

He also thought Thienes would be a good place to have a boat ramp or rent out boats.

"They'd make good money," he said. "There's lots of water here."

Staff Writer Phil Drake contributed to this story.