Climate Action California is a coalition of individuals and organizations seeking practical, efficient and comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis. From their About Us page:
We are engaged at every level of government—local, regional, state, and federal—advancing science-based climate policy that will speed the transition to a just, equitable low-carbon economy and a healthy planet. Our theory of change depends on strong, mutually respectful relationships with legislators and regulators, as we advocate for bold and effective action.
For those who may not have heard, Topanga Canyon now has its own “P-22” celebrity animal in the form of a mama black bear and her three cubs who’ve made a zig-zag migration from Angeles National Forest (crossing the 101 three times) to now settle in a deep corner of the seaside canyon. Her presence is certainly felt (and occasionally seen) across the community.
Many are ecstatic, others concerned. Here are a couple articles about it:
(Opening excerpt from a press release on Senator Adam Schiff’s website. Bold highlights are our own)
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and U.S. Representative Laura Friedman (D-Calif.-30) introduced the bicameral reintroduction of the Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act, landmark legislation that would protect some of the last wild and open spaces in the Los Angeles area and allow the National Park Service (NPS) to work with local communities to better protect natural resources and improve access to nature. This bill would add over 118,000 acres to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) and is based on an NPS study that was reported to Congress in 2016.
The Rim of the Valley stretches from the Simi Hills and Santa Susanas to the Verdugos and the San Gabriel Mountains, making a “green belt” that encircles the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi, and Conejo Valleys.
In the post-dawn chill, the caravan grew, car after car, along the unassuming dirt strip leading to a service road. With a beckon, it began to move, this serpentine line of vehicles full of people eager to join those already camped under soft oak shade in the beautiful, rain-greened depths of Point Mugu State Park…
Welcome to Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days 2025! For those who participated in this year’s event, thank you so much! We hope that you had as much fun as we did.
By all accounts it was a huge turnout. Cars packed what spaces tents didn’t. At Danielson Ranch, people caffeinated, breakfasted and mingled across many different groups and organizations, including California State Parks, National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council (SMMTC), Concerned Off Road Bicyclists Association (CORBA) and your trusty Sierra Club Santa Monica Mountains Task Force (SMMTF).
SMMTF crew leader Bill Vanderberg gathers volunteers from the Chinese University Alumni Association Alliance of Southern California (CUAAASC) Hiking Club for a safety talk before work begins. Photo by Sara Hanson Nicholl.
Sierra Club crew leaders oversaw about 60 volunteers in our group alone on Saturday, who, after a brief orientation from our own Bill Vanderberg, trekked a mile further into the brush to work on the Coyote Trail.
Others took their McLeods, loppers and saws to trails such as the Upper Sycamore Canyon, Two Foxes, Blue Canyon and more.
SMMTC crew members demonstrate one of several methods that may be employed to control water drainage and mitigate trail erosion. Photo by Dave Edwards.
After a thoroughly gratifying, sweat-beaded day of trail work, everyone reconvened at camp for some much-deserved refreshments, appetites further whetted by the BBQ smoke twisting through the air.
Now forty-plus years old, Trail Days has been integral in elevating awareness of — and engagement with — the welfare of the Santa Monica Mountains. It happens every April.
The work highlighted by Trail Days is what the Trailies of the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force do nearly every Saturday, from September to June. Physically or financially, we could always use a helping hand, so if you appreciate what the mountains have to offer, please consider volunteering and/or donating!
Members of the Mountain Bike Unit volunteer park patrol were among those working with the CORBA crew. Photo by Steve Messer.
If you had your camera out, we’d love it if you could share your favorite photos and videos on our…
(While we know that you may have lots more to share, we ask that you please limit your upload to the shared album to 3-5 files, as we want to give everyone the chance to participate.)
2 – Click the “Add Photos” icon in the upper righthand side of the screen.
3 – Log in to your Google account, if prompted.
4 – Select a handful of your favorite images from the weekend.
That’s it!
Also, please feel free to tag us on Instagram @smmtf.trail.crew — or on Facebook @smm.task.force.1972 — on photos or videos you post from Trail Days 2025
Many concerns have been voiced about the news of the EPA setting up a three-month “hazardous waste” siteto consolidate and manage the materials from the Palisades Fire. In fact, there was a protest about it: yesterday’s March to Save the Sea, which took place on the Santa Monica Pier. The RCDSMM, or, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, issued a statement which, in part, reads:
As a local agency facilitating resource protection and public connections with the environment in the Santa Monica Mountains, the RCDSMM has concerns regarding the chosen site and would have preferred a different location. Critical habitat for the endangered steelhead trout and tidewater goby is located directly adjacent to the motel site within Topanga Creek and Lagoon and is at risk if contaminated materials are inadvertently spread into these areas. Adjacent beaches and near-shore areas located just downstream could also be harmed, degrading recreation uses and unique fish and wildlife habitats.
Located at the mouth of Topanga Canyon near Topanga Lagoon, the site is one of ecological sensitivity and cultural significance. The lagoon itself is slated to undergo restoration in the near future.
Debate presses on, with organizations such as Heal the Bay decrying the project, arguing they were not consulted, and that such toxic materials, left exposed, could well seep into the soil and the ocean. Others counter that the waste pile had to go somewhere, and any decision would necessarily be controversial. See the bullet points of Heal the Bay’s meeting with the EPA. Somewhat unsettlingly, the EPA’s own FAQ for this issue returns a “Cannot Find The Page You’re Looking For.”
Thank you to everyone who attended the March meeting. For those who Zoomed in, we apologize for the difficulties with the audio. Rest assured, we’re in the process of upgrading our tech, rendering such issues a thing of the past come the next meeting on May 13th. (We meet every 2 months, on the first Tuesday—occasionally the second Tuesday, or skipping a month, if needed for a quorum).
We’re considering the need for a Zoom meeting facilitator. If this happens to be your area of expertise, let us know!
Also: several people had not received the Zoom link, which was an oversight. Please join the mailing list and choose “Task Force meetings” under Mail Preferences. To update your mailing list subscription at any time, simply sign up again using the same email address, and your profile will update automatically.
While we don’t keep recordings, we’re working on a series of updates for the news blog which will cover all the salient points from Tuesday’s meeting, the most important of which will also be emailed to you as a mailing list subscriber. Thanks for staying engaged!
Since this recent past meeting, we’ve been giving a lot of thought to one particular question which came up: What are the bottlenecks? The biggest problem seems to be getting information out efficiently, and providing a clear resource for information such as when the parks and trails will be reopened, when and how people will be able volunteer in the restoration effort, fast-developing news such as the Topanga toxic waste site, the health and safety of the affected areas and other concerns.
Right now, what we need most urgently is to expand our Communications Team. As the Task Force continues its multi-pronged effort to protect and maintain the Santa Monica Mountains, across several domains, we need volunteers to take on a “pet” issue and keep track of its progress, attend key meetings elsewhere, write about it for the blog, report on it at our meetings, help coordinate action campaigns, and so on. Interested? Email us!
We’ve always been a small group of 8 or 10 people, discussing a small agenda. Carrying the torch. (Our predecessors were instrumental in the decades-long effort to establish a Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.) But it looks like we’re encountering a significant growth in engagement. Our founders, Ron and Mary Ann Webster, would be proud.
We’ll be sharing many more updates over the coming days and weeks, especially details for March 15th and other upcoming trail work events. Feel free to contact us with any specific questions that come up.
Thank you for your interest! We look forward to meeting you!
In cooperation with the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, we’re proud to announce our presence at CicLAvia along Ventura Blvd on Sunday, December 8th, 2024.
CicLAvia is a festive cycling event that occurs nine times every year, across the Los Angeles basin. Five or so miles of contiguous roadway are blocked off to vehicle traffic, allowing the public to enjoy unimpeded movement along the route.
Along the way, riders will find pop-up booths featuring everything from food venues to shops to information on local government and various non-profits — including one for your local volunteer trail crews!
Call for Volunteers
We’ll be working two jobs, and need volunteers for three 2- or 3-hour shifts for each. Robert Bittner is coordinating the joint outreach program, and will be on site all day.
All volunteers will be provided with lunch.
The first job will be to support law enforcement traffic control at one of six vehicle crossing points. Wearing brightly colored shirts, the goal of our volunteers is to ensure participants’ safety at intersections by supporting California Conservation Corps: encouraging people to slow down and stop, providing directions, and answering route-related questions.
The second job will be to staff our pop-upbooth, where folks can learn about the Sierra Club and Trails Council volunteer trail crews.
The first and third shifts will assist in set up and tear down. All vehicle crossing volunteers will be provided with event t-shirts. Parking and directions will be provided once we are assigned a location.
Please contact Robert to sign up for a shift or ask further questions. Call (310) 941-9459, or emailrsdinc86@gmail.com.
You can also visit ciclavia.org for more information.
Many in the Task Force are no doubt familiar with the ongoing clean-up — or lack thereof — over in the area of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, in the Santa Monicas’ neighboring mountains. While Boeing has long since agreed to address the hazardous levels of chemical and radioactive waste still present, they’re using a program of “conservation easement” to skirt the responsibility.
This article was written by one of our occasional trail-crew volunteers, Jaimi Dowdell:
Like many other lovers of these local mountains, I was eager to see what the week of heavy rains had wrought along several (ostensibly water-adjacent) trails. And, like many, I wasn’t disappointed: gushing waterfalls, and creeks and streams with strong enough flow you might’ve expected a sun-speckled fish to pop out here and there.
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that the rains weren’t heavy enough to relieve us of the drought. According to the State of California’s Drought Action website, it would take 140% of the state’s normal annual rainfall to put us in a surplus, so to speak.
Storm damage on the Bent Arrow Trail | Photo by Rachel Glegg
At the same time, it’s hard to overstate the immediate damage that severe storms can have on trails, and parks in general. Personally, I witnessed the flood damage in Malibu Creek State Park: piles of debris so high and dense that it was difficult to even navigate a way to the M*A*S*H filming site. The Bent Arrow trail (above) is officially closed for the time being, and reports of landslides and downed trees in Hondo Canyon and the Garapito Trail, respectively, are but two of many similar incidents we are working in partnership with the land agencies to address.
See smmtf.org/trail-crew for information about volunteering to help repair the trails.
Governor Newsom’s 2022-2023 budget bears some heartening news for local wildlife and its supporters: namely, $10 million allocated for the Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing in Agoura Hills, a vision now quickly marching toward a much-needed reality.
Newly christened in September 2021 as the 101 Freeway Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, the bridge is projected to run 210 feet long and span the entire ten-lane freeway, and construction is set to begin this month.
