TOYON is now the official native plant of Los Angeles!
Click HERE to listen to KCRW interview of horticulturist Lili Singer.
Los Angeles
County General Plan Update 2035 –
Revised Draft Available!
The
General Plan Update will guide growth
and development in the unincorporated
areas of Los Angeles County through the
year 2035. It provides a framework of
goals, policies and implementation
programs centered on the theme of
sustainability – or meeting our current
needs without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their
economic, social and environmental
needs. Major policies include:
Expanding Transit Oriented Districts (TODs)
to focus growth in areas with existing
infrastructure and access to transit
choices.
Promoting Mixed-Use to encourage
higher-density commercial/residential
development along identified major
commercial corridors within proposed
TODs.
Expanding Significant Ecological Areas
to ensure long-term biotic diversity in
the County without precluding
development in those areas.
Creating Employment Protection
Districts to ensure that valuable
industrial land remains available for
quality jobs-producing industries and
businesses.
Protecting Agricultural Resources by
recognizing the importance of local
agriculture and protecting it from
incompatible surrounding development.
Links/Resources
Revised Draft General Plan and Land Use
Policy Maps incorporating comments and
feedback received over the last year are
available online at
http://planning.lacounty.gov/generalplan/draft2012.
GP-Net: Look up any parcel in the
unincorporated areas to find out its
current and proposed land use
designations and other related
information at
http://planning.lacounty.gov/generalplan/maps.
Implementation – Draft Zones: As part of
the General Plan Update’s implementation
program, new zones will be created and
the mixed use and manufacturing zones
will be revised to carry out the goals
and policies of the General Plan Update.
You can review them at
http://planning.lacounty.gov/generalplan/zoning.
Please direct any comments or questions
regarding the draft zones to our
Ordinance Studies Section at (213)
974-6432 or ordstudies@planning.lacounty.gov.
Your Support is Important
The General Plan Update is lengthy and
comprehensive in scope. If you’re
looking for particular information,
please feel free to let us know and
we’ll be happy to connect you with the
information you need. Your support for
the County’s General Plan Update is
important to us and we welcome your
comments and questions.
Thank-you,
The General Plan Update Team
(213) 974-6417
genplan@planning.lacounty.gov
LA NATIVE
An ecofriendly future for light rail stations
www.lanative.org
Our goal is simple: get the MTA and Expo
Authority to use native species for the
station landscaping in phase two of the
Expo light rail line.
The site is still being fine-tuned, but
the basic concepts are all there. This
grassroots movement needs help from each
of you in spreading the word on this
long-overdue change in the way we use
plants in our public projects. Under
the Resources & Links section of the
website, you will find copies of both
our colorful Brochure (for interested
stakeholders) and our White Paper (for
media and government). Please feel free
to distribute both documents to anyone
who will read them!
The website also includes a link to our
petition on this matter. Please sign
the petition, if you will. You can link
directly to the petition via:
http://m.ipetitions.com/#petition/la-native
LA NATIVE WHITE
PAPER
To find out why the Expo Line Phase 2
should utilize
mostly native plants, click
HERE.
|
Supervisors
tentatively approve first phases of Newhall Ranch
Final battle to save the river looms
While many homeowners continue to struggle with falling home prices and
under water loans, and commercial vacancy rates in the SCV are at an all
time high, the County’s answer to the problem was to approve an additional
5,500 additional housing units and 2.5 million more square feet of new
commercial space. These first two phases of the Newhall Ranch project
obtained tentative approval this month in spite of the approximately 10,000
existing approved but unbuilt units already in Santa Clarita.
Sited along the Santa Clara River west of the I-5 freeway in one of the most
sensitive wildlife areas in Southern California, these projects received
intense opposition from SCOPE and other environmental groups as well as
members of the community. Downstream farmers and property owners expressed
concerns about chloride pollution and flooding. Unanswered questions remain
regarding the recent water supply well closure and possible spread of the
ammonium perchlorate pollution plume.
SCOPE (Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment) will
not give up the fight to save the Santa Clara from this massive
auto-oriented suburban sprawl project. The last free-flowing river in Los
Angeles County should not be channelized. And the County should provide
housing options that do not contribute to increased air pollution and
greenhouse gases.
SCOPE will not give up, but needs your help.
Please make a donation.
www.scope.org
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS
WATERSHED COUNCIL MEETING
May 24, 2:30 - 5:00pm.
Location TBD
There are plans for three more watershed
council meetings this year – the first one was held on behalf of the Malibu
Creek Watershed Council in January. That group decided that it made sense to
expand its horizons and become a part of the larger Santa Monica Mountains
Watersheds Council.
Funding is in place to hold three more Santa Monica Mountains Watersheds
Council meetings this year. The next one will be on Thursday, May 24, 2012
and will focus on reviewing and revising our initial watershed planning
efffort. For more information contact Melina Watts
[malibucreekwatershed@gmail.com].
Cal-IPC's
2012
Wildland
Weed Field
Courses and
Habitat
Restoration
Workdays!
Our upcoming
field
courses and
habitat
restoration
workdays
trains
natural
resource
managers and
restoration
volunteers
on all
aspects of
invasive
weed
management.
Registration
and course
details at
www.cal-ipc.org/fieldcourses/index.php.
Idyllwild -
June
5-7
James San Jacinto Mountains
UC Natural Reserve
Tuesday, June 5 -
Strategic Approaches to
Invasive Plant Management
Wednesday, June 6 -
Invasive Plant Biology &
Identification
Thursday, June 7 -
Invasive Plant Control
Methods
Registration Fees:
Non-members: $175 per field course, this fee includes a 2011 Cal-IPC Membership
Restoration Volunteers: $55 per field course
In 2012 Cal-IPC is able to offer a special discounted rate for restoration volunteers! You qualify as a restoration volunteer if weed management is not part of your professional work and you volunteer for an organized restoration effort.
Click here to register for field courses now.
THEODORE PAYNE FOUNDATION CLASSES
To register for classes, call (818) 768-1802 during business hours. Visit TPF's online calendar for details on these and other classes and events at www.theodorepayne.org
An important advance in systematics of
California plants:
The Jepson eFlora is now on line.
See http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html
The eFlora includes all of the taxonomic treatments of the print Manual and has in addition treatments for taxa that were excluded from the print Manual because of doubts about naturalization status. Interactive distribution maps linked to specimen data from the Consortium of California Herbaria are included. Words that were abbreviated to save space in the print Manual have been expanded. Keys are linked to the treatments to which they refer. Accepted names and synonyms can be searched for. The eFlora is linked to the Jepson Online Interchange, and from there to numerous electronic tools.
The Jepson Herbarium will work with the treatment authors and users to keep the eFlora in sync with advances in California botanical knowledge.
ECOVISIONS YOUTUBE
INVASIVE PLANT VIDEOS
Ecovisions has produced a series of YouTube videos about invasive plants, specifically English ivy, brooms, yellow starthistle, pampas grass and more. Find them at http://www.ecovisions.org/video.html.
A NEW OAK WOODLAND CURRICULUM ACTIVITY
