Efforts to turn a former landfill into Los Angeles County's first regional park in decades have received a boost in the form of a $12.5 million state grant.
Money approved by the Wildlife Conservation Board late last month will be distributed to the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation to begin construction of the 142-acre Puente Hills Regional Park next year.
The park is located in the hills near Rose Hills and bordered by the unincorporated areas of Hacienda Heights and Whittier, City of Industry and South El Monte with street access at Workman Mill Road and North Drive.
The funds are earmarked for the restoration of 40 acres of native grasslands, coastal scrub and chaparral, according to Jennifer Norris, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Board, a small agency within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Several members of our board are from the Los Angeles area and this gives them and all of us a sense of personal satisfaction,” Norris said. “We are excited to see how this project develops.”
The funding was the largest of a series of grants awarded by the board in May. The state board ultimately awarded money to 43 habitat conservation and restoration projects in 23 counties.
The announcement of June 22 from the state budget allowed the board to release the funds.
“Puente Hills Regional Park is the culmination of a decades-long vision to transform the former landfill and its 150 million tons of trash into a public space, a place for nature and wildlife, a place for healing, restoration and regeneration,” said Norma E. Garcia-Gonzalez, Director of Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation. said in a statement.
The park site once housed the Puente Hills Landfill, which operated from 1957 until its closure on October 31, 2013. The trash is estimated to have covered 602 acres, piled 500 feet high, and weighed approximately 130 million tons.
The landfill once processed one-third of all the county's trash.
That waste is now covered by protective layers of clay placed along the landfill to prevent rainwater from mixing with the debris. There is also a system of pipes to extract gases, mostly methane, from the waste and transport it to a storage site for later sale to the Southern California Gas Co.
As for the construction itself, parks department officials confirm they are still on track to break ground in the summer of 2025.
According to parks and recreation officials, Phase I construction of the park will include the entrance, an adjacent pocket park and picnic areas, an Environmental Justice Center, parking areas and an operations yard. That work should be completed by fall 2026, officials said.
Additional work around the site, including the Park Loop Road, trails, bicycling facilities, landscaping and other park amenities, will begin as funding and permits are secured.
Park officials confirmed they have raised $135 million to date.
Norris said wildlife conservation officials made several trips to Puente Hills and were impressed by the project.
“It really ticked a number of boxes in terms of our priorities,” Norris said. “This project restores habitats and is part of a broader vision to provide recreation and habitat for wildlife while highlighting biodiversity. It’s a success.”
