The Emerald Necklace, a plan for a string of parks and greenways in Los Angeles County, is making steady progress toward realization of its lofty goal: to connect 16 cities and over 500,000 residents along the Río Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers and their tributaries. Rivers and footpaths, not asphalt roads and concrete highways, will provide the links.

Sixty years ago, the Río Hondo and San Gabriel River looked very different; they offered extensive areas to walk, jog, ride horses, play and swim. During winters and occasional summer floods, the two rivers meandered back and forth over what are now Azusa, Duarte, Irwindale, Monrovia, Arcadia, El Monte, South El Monte and Baldwin Park, as well as parts of Temple City, Rosemead, and South San Gabriel.

During the 1950s and 60s, the rivers were placed in concrete flood control channels. At that point valuable recreational space, water quality buffers, and habitat areas along their banks were subsumed.

Today, the urban area where these rivers flow is one of the most densely populated in the state, yet the total park-to-open-space ratio is less than half an acre per 1,000 residents. This figure stands in stark contrast to the national average of 10 acres per 1,000 residents. The Los Angeles Metropolitan region is one of the most "park poor" areas in the nation and suffers from a highly degraded environment. The Emerald Necklace addresses this deficit with added open space while reinvigorating the urban river corridors with multi-benefit greening projects that meet new water conservation and air quality requirements.

Nestled in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, the proposed park network will provide critically needed recreational areas for communities suffering from health challenges correlated to a lack of open space. When complete, the project will provide a regional loop of multi-use trails with connections that extend throughout the watershed from the Angeles National Forest to the Pacific Ocean. It will contribute much needed green space in Los Angeles County.

It is a project heartily applauded and supported by California's oldest and largest Sierra Club group, The Angeles Chapter; also by The Rivers and Mountains Conservancy; and Amigos De Los Rios.

The Sierra Club has been active in the region for many years, working with partners and grantors to complete vision plans and contracts for such projects as the San Gabriel River Discovery Center, San Jose Creek Greenway, and Duck Farm. In 1999, the Sierra Club threw its support behind efforts to establish The San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. Now known simply as RMC, the organization works to preserve open space and habitat in order to provide places for low-impact recreation and educational uses.

In 2003 the Sierra Club's San Gabriel River Campaign created a vision for a connected series of parks and trails around a 17-mile loop that would revitalize the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo. This regional network came to be known as the Emerald Necklace.

By this time, it had also become clear that vision alone wasn't enough to accomplish the goals of the RMC. Stakeholder involvement was also required. To get the ball rolling, Sierra Club stepped up again to organize Amigos De Los Rios. Amigos was designed to motivate, empower, and organize people who live along the San Gabriel. In 2004, The Sierra Club contracted with Amigos to prepare a report laying out its vision for the Emerald Necklace.

RMC recently made a generous grant to help Amigos realize the dream of the Emerald Necklace. Claire Robinson, Executive Director of Amigos De Los Rios, is extremely passionate about making The Emerald Necklace a reality, and is thankful to The Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for taking a leadership role. Claire is excited by the progress being made. She moved to California from the east coast, taking with her the idea of connecting a series of nearby parks from Frederick Law Olmsted's Boston area design. In 1860 he converted a problematic sewage canal into a number of beautiful parks which benefited underserved communities and enhanced the local habitat.

The original Emerald Necklace remains today as a premiere park loop. RMC, Amigos De Los Rios and the Sierra Club envision California's Emerald Necklace as a network of world-class urban parks akin to those found in cities like Paris or London where there are many places for people to connect and enjoy nature and have contact with creatures large and small. Claire explains that the special aspect of The Emerald Necklace is the collaborative spirit of the project - this is a vision that resonates with everyone and everyone has something extraordinary to offer to the project, she says.

Many organizations and individuals have found it exciting to get beyond the concrete and dust of LA, to create something sparkling and effervescent, according to Claire. Already the Sierra Club and Amigos have partnered on Lashbrook Park and Rio Vista Park, two of the jewels in the Necklace. Sierra Club continues to work on many projects in LA and Orange Counties. Most active of these is a project under development by the City of Duarte and Los Angeles Conservation Corps, which seeks to create a link from the river by trail into the San Gabriel Mountains.

Through community outreach Claire has discovered that children who lack access to green spaces often crave ways to connect with nature. Schools on the perimeters of The Emerald Necklace have been encouraged to express their ideas for outdoor "classrooms" and Amigos De Los Rios is incorporating their input. Claire has stated their goal is to create places where students will be able to "meet under a tree like Socrates did and have a connection with the river." Jasmine, a sixth grader interviewed about The Emerald Necklace, is thrilled about the prospect of living near a park. She explains, "It would be great to come to the park and play instead of being bored at your house." Lina, a fifth grader, thinks it would be fantastic to have a place to play and for families to spend time together.

At one future Emerald Necklace "gem," an abandoned quarry, remnants from the mining operation are abundant. Claire explains that they can be seen as blight or as a kind of archeology that can be used. For example, an outdoor classroom / amphitheater is planned using remnants of the quarry. That type of creative thinking is helping to transform underutilized land into a treasure for the community. Ultimately the old gravel quarry will provide 200 acres of recreation and habitat area for fishing, bird watching, walking, jogging, equestrian trails, picnicking, and educational activities.

The Emerald Necklace will connect San Gabriel Valley residents to numerous recreational spaces along the rivers. Claire and her team are currently applying for grant money to create a butterfly garden at one entrance to the park. She is tenacious, explaining if she does not succeed with the first or second application she keeps trying. Amigos already has worked in partnership with the Department of Fish and Game, the County Division of Flood and Watershed Protection, and of course the Sierra Club and the RMC.

Belinda Faustinos, executive director of RMC, has been involved with the conservancy movement for almost 20 years. She is gratified to find others in urban areas who share her concern for the environment. Belinda had the good fortune to grow up in a family that enjoyed camping and being outdoors. She is pleased that resources from The Rivers and Mountains Conservancy will go towards realizing The Emerald Necklace so that children in the area will have an opportunity to experience nature as she did.

Sierra Club has put thousands of volunteer hours and approximately $170,000 into creation of the Emerald Necklace. To date, the Angeles Chapter's advocacy has generated more than $13 million in grant funding for projects they proposed. Sierra has worked pro-actively with many cities and agencies, finding many partners eager to join in this work.

The Emerald Necklace will offer vitality to communities in desperate need of green spaces. The Amigos De Los Rios team is working towards returning the benefits of the rivers to the people who live within those surrounding communities. Remarkable and hopeful changes have taken place on the San Gabriel in the last seven years. What was once a forgotten river is fast becoming the Emerald Necklace, a strand of blue and green gems held together by a remarkable glue: the people who are enriched by its existence.