The Santa Monica Mountains Task Force publishes a digital newsletter four times a year. Conservation news and updates, upcoming social and volunteer activities, and exclusive content — all delivered straight to your inbox.
Latest issue
Spring/Summer 2023
Update from the Chair; Next Meeting: October 3rd; The Bulgari Bloat; Sheila James Kuehl Nature Preserve; The Ballona Oversight; SoCal Gas & Sullivan Canyon; Wildlife Ordinance: One City Council Vote To Go!; Rindge Dam Developments; Ken Beauchene Honored at Sierra Club Banquet; Upcoming Outings; Trail Days 40th Anniversary; SMMNRA Trail Management Plan Update; Media Spotlight.
Past issues
Winter 2023
Update From The Chair; Big Win at the Board of Forestry; Connectivity and the Wildlife Ordinance; Corporate Shenanigans in the Santa Susanas; An Act of Update from the Chair; Remembering P-22; Save the Date: 40th Annual Trail Days Festival; Sierra Club Outings; Lemming Hike (Easter Sunday); Saturday Peaks in the Santa Monicas; A Beautiful, Fitting Memorial to Ron Webster; Media Spotlight: How Trail Designers Build Good Hikes; Next Meeting: Monday, April 3rd.
Summer/Fall 2022
Update From The Chair; Big Win at the Board of Forestry; Connectivity and the Wildlife Ordinance; Corporate Shenanigans in the Santa Susanas; An Act of Hope; SMMNRA Trail Management Plan; Upcoming Outings; The Legacy of Leo Carrillo; Media Spotlight: PBS Eons; Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 13th, 2022.
Spring 2022
Update From The Chair; Wildlife Crossing Construction Underway; Mountain Lion Killed on 405; L.A. City Council Votes to Help Conserve Surplus Land; Hastain Trail Safe From Property Developer; Southern California Steelhead “Endangered”; Access State Parks With Your Library Card; Upcoming Outings; Six Hikers Receive Backbone Trail Completion Patch; Ron Webster Memorial Bench; Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days; California State Parks Week; Media Spotlight: Heyday Publishing; Next Meeting: Monday, June 6th, 2022.
Winter 2022
Update from the Chair; Water, Water Everywhere (Kind Of); State Minimum Fire Safe Regulations Weakened; 39th Annual Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days Festival; Upcoming SMMTF Outings; “Backbone Trek” Thru-Hike Returns; Announcing Our New Treasurer; Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing Gets $10M Boost; Media Spotlight: Concert Atop the Canyons; Next Meeting: Monday, February 7th, 2022.
Fall 2021
Message from the Editor; Back to (Trail) Work; SB 433: The Coastal Commission’s New Legislative Weapon; Retiring the Rindge Dam; The Mulholland Design Review Board; Explore the Santa Monica Mountains With Us; Angeles Chapter Elections: Last Chance to Vote; West Village at Calabasas; Cougars During COVID; Growing Pains for the L.A. Zoo; Media Spotlight: Geology of the Santa Monica Mountains; Next Meeting: Monday, December 6th, 2021.
Summer 2021
Update from the Chair; Sierra Club Outings Have Returned!; Bill Pitts named Trail Worker of the Year; Hastain Trail Threatened by Development; Amid the Heat, a Growing Concern: Humidity; Triangle Ranch and the Wildlife Crossing; Book Spotlight: Santa Monica Mountains: Range on the Edge; Next Meeting: Monday, August 2nd, 2021.
Spring 2021
Update from the Chair: Discourtesy; In memory of Ron Webster (1935—2021); Federal Armor for the Rim of the Valley; Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing: $18M in fundraising; #SaveLACougars; Status of Sierra Club activities (COVID-19 update); L.A. Times’ Ultimate Hiking Guide; Media Spotlight: Hiking the Backbone Trail in Eight Segments; Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 8th, 2021.
Winter 2021
Update from the Chair: Berggruen Institute; Endangered Plants Bulldozed, LADWP Fined; New Protections for Toyon and Mexican Elderberry; Baldwin Hills Restoration Underway; Gondolas Over Griffith: A Soaring Controversy; Rambunctious Rompin’: L.A. Nature Kids; The Perfect Holiday Gift; Legacy of Land: Trebek Open Space; Media Spotlight: Chumash & Tongva History; Next Meeting: February 1st, 2021.
Fall 2020
Update from the Chair; Heat & Wildfires: The Eternal, Infernal Duo; Mountain Lions: Fragmentation & the Future; Sullivan Canyon Trail open again; Protected Tree Ordinance under threat by Sullivan Canyon case; SMMTF hike leader celebrates 90th birthday; Another good reason to leash your dog; Development paused on “Savannah Oaks”; Jerome Daniel; Status of Sierra Club activities (COVID-19 update); Book Spotlight: “Discovering Griffith Park: A Local’s Guide”; Next Meeting: October 12th, 2020.
Summer 2020
Update from the Chair; A New Litter of Mountain Lions; Ballard Mountain: Time for Some Tough Talk; Summer Safety on the Trails; The Art of Trail Building; Book Spotlight: “Hiking Trails of the Santa Monica Mountains” Ongoing impact of COVID-19 on Task Force activities; Follow Us on Facebook and Instagram!; Next Meeting: August 3rd, 2020.
Spring 2020
Update from the Chair; Nature Doesn’t Want Your Orange Peel; Trail Builder Ron Webster Receives Lifetime Achievement Award; Hidden Creeks: SoCal’s Newest Open Space Preserve; Honoring City Councilwoman Rita Walters; Santa Monica Mountains: An Island of Nature; Ron & Mary Ann Webster Featured in Culver City Neighbors; Book Spotlight: “Wild LA”; Task Force Activities Impacted by COVID-19; Follow Us on Facebook and Instagram!; Next Meeting: April 6th, 2020.
May 2019
2019 Sierra Club Annual Awards Banquet; Non-native grasses and plants invade after Woolsey Fire; Victory in lawsuit with U2’s The Edge.
September 2018
2018 Sierra Club Annual Awards Banquet; 37th Annual Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days; Remembering activist Loretta G. Ditlow; Parks and Water Bond Act of 2018 (Prop 68) passed; FISH Act (H.R.3916) would weaken protected status of salmon and trout.
December 2017
Trail Crew Report; Bluffs Park; Berggruen Institute; Public Lands Advocates; Overpass to Safety; Campfire replaces OARS; Willy Blumhoff; Bicycles in Wilderness Areas.
February 2017
Chesebro Purchase Approved; Jane Lewis’s Bench; Backbone Trail Festival 2016; McAuley Peak.
March 2016
Coastal Commission fires its executive director!
October 2015
Coastal Commission Approves Former Crummer Project and Oil Spills along Our Coast.
February 2015
Malibu Bluffs Project on Hold; Pacific Coast Highway Reopens and Protecting Our Deserts.
December 2014
Wildlife Corridor Is a Go; The Edge Revisited and Broad Beach Erosion.
April 2014
The Rendezvous Hike; Ladyface Mountain Acreage Purchased and Trail Management Plan Coming.
December 2013
In Memory of David Brown; P-22 Is Alive and Well and Looking Back at The Los Angeles Aqueduct.
February 2013
Golf Course Expansion Planned and Corps of Engineers Ravages Sepulveda Basin.
September 2012
Los Angeles County General Plan; Open Space Lands Act of 1970; Latest News on Trails Access; New Treasurer Mary Jane McMaster; Leaders of Tomorrow.
July 2012
Margot Feuer Passes Away; AB 2226 – The Edge Fights Back; The Impact of the June 5th Primary Elections; Assembly June 5th Primary Election Results; Fracking; Plastic Bag Ban.
March 2012
Redistricting is Changing our Political Climate; Quaker-Ross Development is Back; Streams & Creeks; Banquet Update; Hiking Fun; White Roofs.