Dept. of Fish and Game Allegedly Never Granted Stream Alteration Permit for Santa Anita Dam Riser Modification and Sediment Removal Project:

Dept. of Fish and Game Allegedly Never Granted Stream Alteration Permit for Santa Anita Dam Riser Modification and Sediment Removal Project:
Residents and Media Request Official Information from Fish and Game

By Terry Miller
The enduring struggle continues to get more complex in an effort to get accurate information regarding what led up to the destruction of over 200 trees, a woodland wildlife area in Arcadia last month.
Deeply concerned residents and others have expressed concern that there has been a cover-up of sorts with regard to dissemination of public information on this particular matter.
Dept of Fish and Game’s Kelly Schmoker has apparently asserted that DF&G never approved the destruction of the woodland, had not granted the required Stream Alteration Permit for the project, and did not accept the 4.9 acre hillside parcel nor the seedlings planted in Big Tujunga as sufficient mitigation for the loss of the woodland!
We are working on confirmation of this and the allegation that the Arcadia Highland Homeowner’s Assoc. recently wrote a letter thanking the DPW for doing its job to protect public safety by removing the woodland.
In addition to this newspaper group; Cam stone has also filed a request for public records addressed to California Dept of Fish and Game’s Kelly Schmoker:

“Please consider this email a formal Public Records Request for all communications and documents in the possession of the California Department of Fish and Game relating to the LA County Department of Public Works’ Santa Anita Dam Riser Modification and Sediment Removal Project. Requested documents include emails, letters, reports and other documents specifically relating to the above referenced project. Please include records of any communications with the LA County Department of Public Works and the LA County Board of Supervisors on this subject.

Cam Stone”
On Saturday morning, Monrovia Planning Commissioner Glen Owens, Christle Balvin a concerned environmentalist and well as Cam Stone and many others were among the 100 plus people who gathered at Eaton Canyon’s Nature Center in an effort to get more information on how the destruction of 200 trees happened and how they can possibly prevent anything like this from happening again.

Also on hand was Julia Posin, a young anthropology student, who was one of four people arrested after climbing in to the trees at Arcadia Oaks woodland last Jan 12. Posin said it was the first time she had not only sat in a tree to protest imminent destruction of said trees but also the very first time she was arrested. “It was horrible in there.” She said when she was released from Temple Station along with two other tree “sitters” John Quigley and Andrea Bowers.
Posin described in vidid detail the feat she felt not only for her self but for the animals that rely on trees for protection from predators.
Posin received a standing ovation from all in attendance for her bravery trying to save one of the last woodlands in Los Angeles County. Posin said she has retained an attorney and those in attendance offerred to help with her defense fund. There will be a website set up soon and we’ll publish that information as it becomes available.
Posin and the three other people arrested for sitting in the trees will be arraigned Thursday morning at Alhambra Superior Court.
Different groups including Sierra Club, Audubon Society and several other grassroot organizations got together as part of a strategy meeting Saturday, hoping to consolidate ideas and plan to help prevent anything like the destruction of the Arcadia Woodland ever happening again.

Glen Owens spoke powerfully about what happened in January and how the Flood Control refused to address neighbors’ concerns regarding the project that garnered so much media attention.

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