Nancy Steele, president of the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, is sending out this reminder:

Dear Friend of the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy,

The President announced a Great American Outdoors initiative last April and his cabinet secretaries and department heads are cris-crossing the country for listening sessions. I have long been concerned that that conservation in urban areas does not receive enough attention and funding at the federal level. This is our chance to tell them that nature is not an option, it is a necessity for all people. We need to tell the feds that our Angeles National Forest needs more resources to cope with the pressures of our large urban population and to be able to continue serving as our watershed and sequestering greenhouse gases. We need to give them the message that our rivers are national treasures and need funding for revitalization to serve multiple purposes of cleaning water and providing habitat and recreation for our millions. We live in a biological hotspot (California Floristic Province) which has high level of plant endemism (found nowhere else) and has more birds breeding here than anywhere else in the United States.

Attending these listening sessions will be senior representatives of the US EPA, White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Departments of Agriculture and Interior and Defense. Your input is important, especially as we want to promote America's Great Outdoors right here in the urban environment. Nature is not an option for our youth and families; it is a necessity. We need to tell our federal representatives how important it is to support the Great Outdoors in Los Angeles.

1.   July 7, 6:00 to 8:30 pm, Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, 823 Lexington-Gallatin Road, South El Monte
2.   July 8, 3:00 to 7:00 pm, Thorne Hall, Occidental College, Los Angeles; RSVP to sun.nelly@epa.gov
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL LISTENING SESSION and will have all of the high level federal officials attending.

I hope to see you at one of these listening sessions.

Nancy