Author: David Bedell

Dr. Naomi Fraga, botanist at our local California Botanic Garden and CWC Board member, has been featured in a May 22 article in the NY Times for her work studying endangered plants.

Dr.Fragas’ “ultimate goal is to secure endangered or rare species designations for the most threatened plants. That can lay the foundation to legally force land managers to make accommodations for threatened species,” points out the Times’s article.

If you do not have a NY Times subscription, you can read about the amazing and difficult work she does by googling “Naomi Fraga NY Times”.

Lissa thanked Senator Portantino for his strong support last January of a major grant to save the Clara Oaks property from development. (The grant was from the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.)

To see the YouTube virtual presentation of the Preservation Award, click on the following link:

City Receives 20-acre Parcel to Expand Wilderness Park

January 13, 2021 1:52 PM

The city of Claremont received a gift of 20 acres of land in the hills east of Webb Canyon, according to the city manager’s weekly update. The parcel, which was donated by Arthur and Susan Bertolina, will be preserved as open space.

“The city has had a long-standing commitment to preserving open space in our hillsides. I would like to thank the Bertolina family for their generous gift, which ensures more of our wilderness corridor remains preserved,” Acting City Manager Adam Pirrie said.

The parcel, which is appraised at $300,000, is bounded by three privately owned parcels to the north, west, and south and is adjacent to the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park on  the east. While the city issued a news release about the gift dated December 21, it was just announced Friday.
“The city would like to thank the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy for its role as a liaison between city staff and the Bertolinas throughout the negotiations and for its significant contribution to the costs of the transaction,” city officials said in a statement.

Terry Grill, president of the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy thanks the Bertolinas and congratulates the city for the project’s success.

“We are grateful to the Bertolinas for contributing this valuable open space to the Wilderness Park,” she said. “This addition is one more step toward our vision of extending the park westward from Johnson’s Pasture so that it links up with Marshall Canyon, helping to form a continuous wildlands corridor along the face of the San Gabriel foothills as far as Monrovia. And we commend our city, which supports efforts to expand the parkland in our hillsides and manage it effectively.”

Good News! Restoration work has begun on the Sycamore Canyon portion of the CHWP. Phase 1 has been completed with the reconstruction and relocation of the stairs at the trailhead near the Thompson Creek Trail.

Phase 2 will focus on the rest of the trail, including the addition of “landing pads” on switchbacks. The hope is to get this second phase completed before the end of this fiscal year.

Phase 3 will address erosion. This will be ongoing and will include the Friends of the Wilderness Park and the help of Scouts and reserve Rangers.

~Meg Mathies is a CWC Board member and a volunteer with the Friends of the Wilderness Park.

Next Tuesday, Dec. 3, is “Giving Tuesday.” This is a great opportunity to show your support for the Claremont Wildlands Conservency and our efforts on behalf of the Claremont Wilderness Park with your tax deductible donation. Simply click on “Donate to the CWC” and use PayPal or print the donation form and mail it in.

The focus of so much energy and effort and angst
The coming together of passion and politics and unexpected partnerships…
And now it’s finally ours!?
Be careful, though, when you say this.
Maybe it’s not really ours as in to own, or to possess.
Although we may walk there, or bike there,
Or simply know that it’s there…
We don’t live there.
We will never build a house there now, thank you very much.
We are but guests in the home of those who do live there—
The deer, the hawk, the coyote and bobcat
The sage and chamise, the sumac, and cactus and oak,
We are welcome to visit, but not to stay,
In this chaparral-and-meadow, fire-,water,-and-wind-designed corridor,
Narrowly perched between the rugged mountains above
And the human-filled valley below.
No, the Pasture owns itself, as it always has,
What really transfers in the sale of real estate
Is not ownership, but obligation:
Responsibility to protect, to preserve, to learn and to track,
To understand that property and plants and wildlife,
And watershed and airshed and view-shed
Have intrinsic value that cannot be owned,
But can be lost if we lose sight of our goal,
If we become weary of walking the walk.
As we celebrate our success in purchasing Johnson’s Pasture
And appreciate the many folks who made it possible,
We honor them best by owning our ultimate and never-ending responsibility:
To pass on to our children and their children and their children’s children
The legacy of living in harmony with the Earth
And with each other.

-B. Speak

12 June 2007

Evey Canyon to be added to CHWP Thanks to Generous Pomona College Gift (Jul 14, 2017)

A generous gift from Pomona College will allow the City of Claremont to add Evey Canyon and parts of the Padua Hills to the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park.

   On Tuesday, July 11, the City Council approved signing a memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Pomona College to accept ten parcels containing 463 acres for incorporation into the CHWP with the deed restriction that this land will remain open space in perpetuity and that it be available for passive recreational use. In doing so, Pomona College retired 21 development credits, a decision that preserves significantly more of Claremont’s hillsides as open space in perpetuity.

   The City Council’s approval begins a due diligence process that is expected to take six months. During this time City staff will evaluate the costs of incorporating this gift into the current park including parking, security, and coverage by rangers.

   The Claremont Wildlands Conservancy will be monitoring and reporting on progress as we learn more.

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