What’s New? A Website!

Summer went by in a flash! One of my goals for the summer was to create a new nature park website, separate from WeedingWildSuburbia.com. There has been so much going on at the park that I decided it needed its own web presence. The new website address is southpasnaturepark.org. Emails can be sent to me at: hello@southpasnaturepark.org. I am also in the process of setting up a separate Instagram account. The Facebook account will stay the same: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofSouthPasNaturePark/

Please bear with me as I work out the kinks. (As I’m writing this I noticed that the email address is not always working. Argh! Please email: barbara@weedingwildsuburbia.com

Arroyo Seco Water Reuse Project

Last spring the cities of Pasadena and South Pasadena began the scoping process for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Arroyo Seco Water Reuse Project. The scoping period is a time when stakeholders and community members can provide input on projects that will have significant environmental impact.

Prior to this, in late 2023, the cities submitted a Mitigated Negative Declaration on the proposal. After being served with a lawsuit demanding that a full EIR be prepared, the two cities settled, agreeing to go through the process. The very idea that this project would have limited environmental impact bespeaks the desire of the project applicants to push this through with minimal review by the public. 

You can read more on the project here: Water Reuse Project Links

Water Purification While Protecting Habitat

The project’s goals of water purification and water reuse are sound. However, diversion of water from the Arroyo Seco to irrigate the golf course in South Pasadena is questionable. Arguments can be made that in a time of increasing drought and weather extremes, water use for a golf course is unwise.

This, however, is not the main problem with the project. It is the destruction of a functioning, albeit weedy, riparian ecosystem. The project will bulldoze a small stream diversion in South Pasadena that has been in place for around 100 years. The diverted water (see picture below) flows unchannelized in a small creek that is surrounded by mature native trees and shrubs. This habitat is critical for birds, frogs, fish, and even humans.

Where We Stand

We believe that the stated goals can be accomplished with a different approach. We can be leaders in the current efforts to begin to restore the ecosystem of the Arroyo Seco. We can remove, rather than add to the disastrous concretized system – the Arroyo Seco flood control channel – that is nearing (or beyond) its productive and safe lifespan. 

I know that some people do not think that this is possible. However, there is nothing in the documents or public meetings that support this conclusion. We can clean up our mess, but we must start thinking of the Arroyo Seco as a living stream. Clean water in concrete is not the answer. 

Public Input … on not

The legally required EIR is now being prepared by the city of Pasadena. These reports must include input on what the public would like to see included in the project. Although Pasadena held the required public scoping meeting in May 2025 to explain the process, there were several problems with the event.

First of all, it was held in the South Pasadena Library Community Center. This historic site is lovely to look at, however, the acoustics are dismal, and so many of the attendees were unable to follow what was being said. 

A second problem with the meeting was that the public was not allowed to ask questions or make comment to the group as a whole. Following a short presentation on the EIR process by the proponents of the existing project, the group broke up and met at the back of the room to ask questions and provide their input. Neither this input nor the questions were shared with the whole audience. 

What next?

Following the close of the comment period, everything has gone silent. The project webpage gives a timeline showing the EIR process being completed in the winter of 2026. Presumably, the cities are reworking the proposal with the inclusion of alternative projects. We were told that we would have more opportunities to make additional comments but my deep concern is that the planning of this project has cost so much money and time that project leaders will not follow the intent of the EIR process in good faith by involving the public. Hopefully, I am wrong and we will be included in the development of the full EIR, rather than just recipients of a plan that was a fait decompli.

Please, try to education yourself on this project and be prepared to send comments when we are brought back into the fold. This will move quickly once the report is completed. Unless we change the nature of this project to include habitat preservation and restoration for the project sites and the Arroyo Seco more generally, we will see more destruction and buried concrete. We can do better!

---