Environmentalists are divided over the proposed $7 million plan to restore the Malibu Lagoon, according to the LA Times. Tomorrow the Coastal Commission will consider the plan, which will see to it the lagoon's "stagnant, polluted waterways" be drained and rectified in order to better its "ecological health." more ›

The Los Angeles region could get another National Recreation Area congressional designation under a study that is proposing three different concepts for the San Gabriel watershed and mountains. Congress directed the National Parks Service to study and evaluate resources in a large area from the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys down to the Orange County border. No, it doesn't mean we'd be within minutes of a new National Park in the traditional sense--Yosemite, Joshua Tree--but it could mean better managed cultural sites or new trails and protected open spaces. more ›

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found the Los Angeles River unnavigable, therefore it is not a river. Critics say it will weaken rules that protect the watershed under the Clean Water Act. "They believe the ripple effect of the decision will make is easier to develop large areas of the Santa Susana, Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains because landowners will not be required to obtain certain federal permits," the LA Times reports. "Some federal and state officials fear that the decision also may undermine rules against discharging wastewater and storm water into the river's tributaries." more ›