These horses are part of the park. They live there. I think they are used for kids to ride.
Hahamongna Watershed Park, Pasadena. In recognition of my friends and co-bloggers in Pasadena and Altadena yesterday, who paid tribute to this great place on their blogs, I am
doing the same. A day late.
But the issue remains, even today. Should the city place
ball fields, in this case, soccer fields, in this amazing,
pristine place?
I shot this a few months ago when I got a tour of the
park. I am a sucker for oak trees and this picture
represents one of the many oak-tree-woodlands in this
urban interface.
I like the way the tree trunks that fell down are still there.
I'm thinking they'll decompose and be part of the soil and the
cycle continues. This is rare for something this natural to
occur in a city, in an area such as the San Gabriel Valley where
1.9 million people live.
We need close-in nature parks. Too often, access to the
Angeles National Forest is blocked for months, even years.
We can't get on Highway 2, Angeles Crest, to visit Red Box or Mount
Wilson or Strawberry Peak or Mount Disappointment or any of
my favorite hiking places. The US Forest Service says the road
won't be fixed until November.
Let's keep the close-in natural parks natural. Often in a county of 11
million, they are the closest we come to seeing nature. That includes
trees. In fact, this topic is part of President Obama's Great Outdoors
Discussion which was held at Whittier Narrows park Wednesday
night and will also be held at Occidental College today at 3 p.m.
If you attend, tell the federal officials that we need more parks and
better access to the natural lands we have in the SGV and Los
Angeles County.
Hear, hear for natural places being allowed to stay natural. We have so few of them left!
ReplyDeleteSteve, is this the area where we saw some very interesting art installations several years ago?
I'd like to take a hike here sometime soon.
What an excellent point you make. Yes, we do have the mountains, people say, but how often can school teachers take a busload of kids there for a nature hike? How often can a college biology class go there for study?
ReplyDeleteAnd how often are the mountain roads closed to us?
Nature, right here in town, is one of the things that makes Pasadena special. We're proud of Pasadena and we love it so much; we want to keep it that way.
Steve and Petrea, you have both put it very well. I like taking kids to Hahamongna to show them nature. The Gabrielino trail up the Arroyo from there is closed to us because of the fire damage, so Hahamongna is especially valuable right now. By the way, that oak grove in your photo is going to be the site for a supervised overnight campground.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you brought up accessibility. I have a friend who loves the San Gabriels, but she has limited mobility. To actually walk in the area she treasures, Hahamongna is now her only option. May it remain an option.
ReplyDelete(Have been enjoying your blog even before this post.)
I love the fact that we have such wild areas so close to us-- practically walking distance for some, as a matter of fact! It's great for schools, it's fantastic for summer day campers, and for people who want to see what our small corner of California looked like before there were a couple million of us wandering around. And these natural areas are our own human habitat's filtering system; water, air, earth. I think we do well to preserve them.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are right on and the message of "urban parks" is a timely one. It is part of President Obama's Great American Outdoors campaign. It is also on the radar screen of our major environmental groups, such as The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club and one you should all get to know, the local Amigos de los Rios. Amigos is trying to bring parks to Latino populations to increase exercise in children and reduce type II diabetes. I'm not against soccer but I think nature parks are equally important for advancing the cause of exercise and physical and mental health.
ReplyDelete