The Griffith Park De Anza Trail Project

Juan Beatista De Anza

Friends of Griffith Park is pleased to have been awarded an assistance grant from the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) of the National Park Service, to help preserve and enhance the historic Anza Trail in Griffith Park. The National Park Service RTCA program supports community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projects, providing technical assistance to communities so they can conserve rivers, preserve open space, and improve trails and greenways.

We are also doubly pleased that the Griffith Park De Anza Trail Project has been chosen for inclusion in the America's Great Outdoors Fifty-State Report. President Obama launched the America's Great Outdoors (AGO) Initiative to develop a 21st Century conservation and recreation agenda. AGO takes as its premise that lasting conservation solutions should rise from the American people and that the protection of our natural heritage is a non-partisan objective shared by all Americans. It also recognizes that many of the best ideas come from outside of Washington and turns to communities for local, grassroots conservation initiatives. Goals for projects were set as a result of an intensive, nationwide listening tour asking people what they want in terms of outdoors and recreation. Of the many projects in the State of California, two were chosen as particularly worthy exemplars of the initiative's goals and one of them is the Anza Trail along the L.A. River in and near Griffith Park.

With the assistance of NPS RTCA Program and the distinction of inclusion in the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fifty State Report, Friends of Griffith Park looks forward to a beneficial outcome.

See the National Park Service announcement of its RTCA programs and its partners in 2012 (you'll find us on page 4.) Read this article on the Griffith Park De Anza Trail Project from our November 2011 "Between Friends" newsletter.