Puente Hills
By Efrain Morales, Troy Taylor, Andrew Gallegos
The Puente Hills rise from the suburban cities of Whittier, Hacienda Heights and the City of Industry. The Puente Hills comprise nearly 4,000 acres of open space and are home to many different plants and animal species. Visitors can hike, bike, or simply take a leisurely stroll through these hills as they take in the fresh air and striking views of surrounding communities.
After going on a miniature hike early this spring, we decided to venture further into the Puente Hills on a Sunday afternoon with some friends who are also Whittier residents. The weather was a solid 75 degrees, the sun was out, and a slight breeze blew. On our hike we saw rabbits, lizards, birds and various animal droppings. We also witnessed luscious green bushes, trees with bright red flowers on them, taller trees, dead brown grass, other hikers, and even Whittier College’s football field from the distance. Once we gained enough elevation, we could see everything around, including the Los Angeles skyline. We walked the trails for about two hours before we returned to campus, an experience that was rather relaxing and one that we would not soon forget.
The Puente Hills are a chain of hills within the Lower Transverse Ranges in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California. The western end of the range is often referred to locally as the Whittier Hills. The Puente Hills have been protected since 1994 through the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority, which has been supported by the City of Whittier, the Hacienda Heights Improvement Association, Los Angeles County, and the Sanitation Districts of L.A. County. The Puente Hills are in the ecoregion of woodlands and California chaparral of the California Floristic Province. The remnant of California native plants here are in the chaparral and oak woodland plant communities, with strands of California native grasses such as vascular plants.
The Puente Hills have a long history of housing oil drilling and derricks. In the early 20th century, several companies drilled in the hills, including Simon Murphy Oil Company. Ironically, it is the oil derricks that belonged to the company that helped preserve the Puente Hills.
Mike Garabedian, the Whittier College Wardman Library Librarian commented that the hills are important to the area’s development because “oil extracted from Puente Hills in the first part of the twentieth century helped to shape and build the city of Whittier. Neither this town nor Whittier College would be here if it weren’t for the hills.” Since the hills were home to the oil derricks and land owned by oil companies, they were protected from the housing development that the surrounding areas faced.
More recently, Santa Barbara-based Matrix Oil proposed resumption of oil drilling on several acres in the Puente Hills. Hills for Everyone — a non-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving the Puente-Chino Hills and surrounding areas — and other advocacy groups opposed the plans which were approved unamimously by Whittier City Council in 2008. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in 2013 to block the development. Local courts have upheld the county’s decision in 2015, leaving the City of Whittier to mull whether to go to the state supreme court to appeal the supervisors’ decision.
Neither this town nor Whittier College would be here if it weren’t for the hills.
The Puente Hills is also known as the biggest landfill in the United states and takes in about a third of Los Angeles’s trash. The Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Preservation Authority directs the acquisition, restoration, and management of open space in the Puente Hills for preservation of the land to protect the biological diversity and provide opportunities for outdoor education and low-impact recreation.
By a 5–0 vote, the County Supervisors voted to accept the final Environmental Impact Report and the master plan for the park, which would replace the old landfill with trails and other amenities such as a giant slide, a gondola ride taking visitors to the top and back, an amphitheater, a zipline, stair climbs and a bicycle skills course. The plan calls for an entry plaza and a 7,000 square-foot visitors center that will take park visitors via a shuttle bus or gondola to the top of the park. Plans call for 14 miles of multi-use trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. Also planned are picnic areas and play areas for children.
The Habitat Authority has reported that “approximately 207 acres of Habitat Authority lands have been or are currently being restored/enhanced.” Restoration is described as the process of restoring the ecosystem to its “pre-disturbed” state. Most of these projects are focused around replanting and revitalizing the native plant species.
One project designed to protect the local wildlife is the building of the Harbor Boulevard Wildlife Underpass. The underpass was developed in 1990 to support the longevity of the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor. The wildlife underpass is approximately 4,600 acres of publicly protected habitat to the west and approximately 14,000 acres of publicly protected habitat to the east.
In 1999, a wildlife movement study showed a significant amount of wildlife killed by vehicles near Harbor Boulevard, leading to the creation of the underpass. Multiple agencies, elected officials, local nonprofit organizations, the Habitat Authority, a local government park agency, together with the County of Los Angeles, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and even California State University, Fullerton contributed to the creation of the underpass. The underpass project is the first wildlife underpass built in the county of Los Angeles, amplifying the importance of the project to an even greater extent than its original intent.
Today, the Puente Hills are used by locals in many different ways. The communities surrounding the Puente Hills have started a meetup group with over 4,400 active members that arrange hiking trails, nature workshops, yoga and other outdoor activities to do together. The public group encourages people from all over Los Angeles and Orange Counties to use the hills and to socialize with other people by using the hills to build a stronger joint community that uses and respects the environment. There are multiple free guided hikes that are available, and that range from two to four miles, from minimal elevation to significant increases in elevation. Hikes are also open to invitation and can be scheduled on any day of the week, making it extremely convenient for people who work or who may be busy on the weekends.
The Habitat Authority works closely with members of the local community to make Puente Hills a welcoming environment for everyone. It holds many events throughout the year, including the upcoming Nature Workshops at Hacienda Hills Trailhead and their Earth Day celebration. People are also welcome to take a stroll in the Puente Hills nature preserve. The Habitat Authority has also posted a list of “20 Things You Can Do as a Puente Hills Steward,” which briefly introduces actions visitors can take to make their visit both memorable and impactful.
We asked Mike Garabedian about the Puente Hills nature preserve and about his personal experiences with the local hills. Garabedian shared that the hills have always been an integral part of his life, just as they have been to the lives of many others. These hills make Whittier a unique space because the “Whittier Hills have always been a singular wilderness area that sets Whittier apart from surrounding areas in Los Angeles, which have little to no open spaces like this,” says Garabedian.
“Whittier Hills have always been a singular wilderness area that sets Whittier apart from surrounding areas in Los Angeles, which have little to no open spaces like this.”
