The Coastal Conservancy

In the late eighties, while in graduate school at UC Berkeley, Christopher Kroll began a part-time job at a relatively new and small state agency: the Coastal Conservancy.

Established in 1976, “the Coastal Conservancy was set up to be a project agency to actually work with local governments, and nonprofits, on issues that could not be solved with regulation in relation to the hundreds of miles of coastline, and the wetlands, streams, and rivers along California’s coast.

Around the same time that Christopher began his career at the Conservancy, there was a growing awareness of the Los Angeles River spearheaded by local activists, community members, artists, and scientists. At the time, few people knew of the 51-mile long river, whose waters began in the San Fernando Valley and flowed all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach. Christopher recalls that meeting with some city officials to discuss possible projects along the river, the response he heard was, “What river? We don’t have a river in our city.”

And so, when the Conservancy was asked by the State Legislature to develop plans for restoring the LA River, it was an uphill battle to convince many local decision makers to even classify the river as a river, given its reputation as a concrete channel.

This was further complicated by the fact that the majority of the river is located outside the coastal zone where the Coastal Conservancy generally operated.

“There was resistance to how we can work up the river, when the majority of the river is outside the coastal zone.”

But the river is the result of its watershed, and what happens inland will reach the coast. This fact was recognized by public officials overseeing the Coastal Conservancy and the Conservancy began to fund more restoration and public park and trail projects up the LA River and other coastal rivers and streams.

“The Coastal Conservancy has loosened up what it’s able to do, but this is 30 years ago and so this was a difficult situation at the time.” Since the 1990s, the Coastal Conservancy has worked with several local governments and nonprofits to develop projects to improve public access and natural habitat along the river and its tributaries.

A plan for Taylor Yard, the old Union Pacific rail yard, was one of the major early projects that the Coastal Conservancy funded. In addition, the Conservancy produced two important early LA River studies: parks and recreation opportunities along the LA River and Wetlands of the LA River watershed.

Christopher Kroll worked as a Project Manager for the Coastal Conservancy. The Coastal Conservancy is a state agency, established in 1976, to protect and improve natural lands and waterways, to help people get to and enjoy the outdoors, and to sustain local economies along California’s coast. During the 1990s, Christopher witnessed the renewed interest in the LA River and its future by non-profits, environmentalists, activists, and community members. While at the Conservancy, he worked alongside cities and non-profits in LA County to advance their needs and wants in relation to the revitalization of the LA River.