Puente Hills Landfill site receives restoration grant

The Sacramento-based Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) of California says it is ready to award nearly $120 million in grants to 43 habitat conservation and restoration projects, with the largest one on the site of a former landfill.

A state budget agreement reached in late June allows the WCB to release funds to some 43 projects, including a $12.5 million grant to the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation.

The grant is earmarked to help convert a 142-acre site, formerly a portion of the Puente Hills Landfill into Puente Hills Regional Park, which would make it Los Angeles County’s first new regional park in 30 years. At times during its nearly 60 years of operations, Puente Hills Landfill was considered the second-largest landfill in the country, the WCB says.

According to the organization, prior to the landfill’s operation, the site had supported a "thriving ecological system" of oak-woodland, coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats.

Restoration of the site will include the establishment of native plant communities that will address the "critical issues of habitat degradation, loss of biodiversity, disrupted habitat connectivity and the unmet needs for accessible open space.”

The park is expected to serve the residents of Los Angeles County as well as attract visitors from adjacent Orange County and the Inland Empire region.

“The Puente Hills Regional Park is the culmination of a decades-long vision to transform the former landfill and its 150 million tons of trash into a public space, a place for nature and wildlife [and] a place for healing, restoration and regeneration,” says Norma E. Garcia-Gonzalez, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

“The park will be the outcome of the most robust community engagement process we’ve ever done. The resulting native landscapes and spectacular views will serve millions in the greater Los Angeles region for generations to come.”

The grants are being made in support of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of conserving 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030.