The Council for Watershed Health (originally named the Los Angeles & San Gabriel
Rivers Watershed Council) grew out of conversations held between Dorothy Green
and Mark Gold of Heal the Bay and Don Smith of Montgomery Watson Engineers
regarding the inadequate communication among the governmental agencies with
responsibilities in the watershed. Five different kinds of water agencies were
not exchanging information with the public or between themselves. This
conversation resulted in a decision to bring representatives of all of these
water agencies (supply, groundwater, stormwater, water quality, and wastewater),
regulatory agencies, citizen groups and consultants together to figure out how
best to remedy this situation.
This disparate group met for almost a year at Montgomery Watson headquarters in
Pasadena. They acknowledged that agencies have traditionally been established to
accomplish single purpose goals and that the agencies’ authorizing legislation
does not require communication or coordination with others working in similar
areas of responsibility. In addition, bringing everyone together around a table
is generally thought of as watershed management. It was also agreed to hold a
conference with a broader group of people to determine how best to improve
communications and make comprehensive watershed management planning work.
“Making Watersheds Work”
was held in September 1995 at the Burbank Hilton Hotel. It was a
by-invitation-only event, with participants chosen for their interest and
willingness to think in new ways, and because they represented a broad spectrum
of interests and affiliations. Four local watersheds were examined, and all but
one had some type of cooperative effort in progress. The one with no organized
cooperative effort, the very heart of the county, was the Los Angeles and San
Gabriel Rivers Watershed.
The costs of the conference were more than covered by a few of the conveners:
Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, EPA Region IX, Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California, Montgomery Watson Engineers, CH2M Hill, Los
Angeles County Department of Public Works, and Heal the Bay. The conveners then
dedicated the money left over to form a broadly representative stakeholders
group that became the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council.
Creating the Council.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works stepped forward to offer us a
meeting place while we figured out who and what we were to become. Building on
the list compiled for the conference, we held monthly meetings, inviting
everyone interested to join with us, welcoming all additions to the mailing list
including people who could not attend, but who wished to be kept informed of our
activities. Heal the Bay managed the money at first, to build the mailing list,
and to mail minutes and meeting notices to the list.
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All those who chose to participate then:
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Brainstormed the issues in the dual watershed, and organized them into an
outline of what we needed to know. The outline was later used by the County and
the Army Corps in developing their Watershed Management Plan, also called the
Three Year Plan.
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Adopted a Mission Statement: To facilitate a comprehensive, multi-purpose,
stakeholder driven consensus process to preserve, restore, and enhance the many
beneficial uses, economic, social, environmental and biological, of the Los
Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers watersheds ecosystem through education, research,
planning and mediation. And the following condensed mission statement to put on
the letterhead: To facilitate the preservation, restoration, and enhancement of
the Los Angeles River and San Gabriel River Watersheds.
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Determined our legal structure with help from the attorneys at SCAG: a
non-profit tax exempt 501[c][3] California Corporation as the governing body.
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Adopted by-laws that required a board that is inclusive, representing the wide
variety of stakeholders, all of whose concerns must be addressed in an open,
respectful and cooperative way. Wherever possible, decisions will be reached by
consensus.
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Elected our first board of directors:
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Dorothy Green,
President, Heal the Bay
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Michael Drennan,
Vice-President, MDA Associates
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Arthur Golding,
Vice-President, Arthur Golding &
Assoc., A.I.A.
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Chuck Sihler, Secretary,
Public Works City of Pomona |
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Joe Crocker, Treasurer,
CPA |
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Kathleen Bullard,
RCD of the Santa Monica Mtns
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Andy Lipkis, TreePeople
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Bob Miele, Sharon Green,
Alt., Los Angeles County
Sanitation Districts
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Jim Noyes,
LA County Public Works
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Mark Pisano,
Southern California Assoc. of
Governments
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Official Liaisons (non-voting):
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Christopher Kroll,
CA State Coastal Conservancy
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Jovita Pajarillo,
US EPA, Region IX
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Mike Rogers,
US Forest Service, Angeles
National Forest
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Gail C. Kobetich, Gina
Shultz, Alt., US Fish and
Wildlife Service
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Jan Scow,
California Native Plant Society
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John Slezak, Ana Corado,
Alt., LA Regional Water Quality
Control Board
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Lynda Smith,
Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California
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