Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group: river ranger program.

Existing law provides for the protection, enhancement, and restoration of rivers in this state. Existing law establishes the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the conservancy with regard to the acquisition, preservation, and improvement of real property within the Santa Monica Mountains zone, as defined. Existing law establishes within the conservancy the Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group and requires, by March 1, 2019, the working group to develop, through watershed-based planning methods and community engagement, a revitalization plan for the Upper Los Angeles River, the tributaries of the Pacoima Wash, Tujunga Wash, and Verdugo Wash, and any additional tributary waterway that the working group determines to be necessary. Existing law requires the revitalization plan to address the unique and diverse needs of the Upper Los Angeles River, Pacoima Wash, Tujunga Wash, and Verdugo Wash, and the communities through which they pass, and to include watershed education programs. This bill would specify the Arroyo Seco as a waterway for the working group to include in the revitalization plan and watershed education programs. The bill would authorize the working group to include representatives from the Cities of La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena, and South Pasadena. The bill would authorize a representative appointed to the working group to designate an alternate in his or her place. The bill would instead require the revitalization plan to be developed on or before June 30, 2020, and the conservancy to provide a copy of the plan to certain legislative committees by that date. Existing law requires the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to collaborate with the Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Conservation Corps, and the State Lands Commission to develop a river ranger program, as prescribed. Existing law requires the conservancies, no later than June 30, 2018, to develop a plan for the design and implementation of the program and to provide a copy of the plan to certain legislative committees by that date. This bill would instead require the plan to be developed and a copy to be provided to the legislative committees by March 30, 2019. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.