Young Girls Help Lead Conservation Efforts in La Crescenta

A group of 9-year-old girls, neighbors and the Arroyo & Foothills Conservancy are asking the community to help purchase the 7.5-acre area known as Goss Canyon above Rosemont Avenue.  

The estimated $450,000 Rosemont Preserve project has raised $31,944.48 from the community to date and a pledged $350,000 from Los Angeles County – but still has additional fundraising to complete before the Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy can make the purchase.

That’s when a team of young girls stepped in.

The Green Wishes Girls work at  and various community events selling Rosemont Preserve t-shirts, Mountain Avenue Elementary student Allysen Bell told Patch.

“We started a group to help nature,” Ally said. “Then we heard about the Rosemont Preserve in the newspaper and we really liked the idea of it and we had a meeting with the AFC and I showed them my t-shirt design.”

Ally, who is nine years old, works with fellow students Jessica Carp, Vienna Hawes and Sara Chin – all of whom are also nine. 

The group pictures having field trips and girl scout events. They designed and have sold more than 30 t-shirts, which cost $15 for kids and $20 for adults.

“It’s just something that was really important to us. And my friends and I think it’d be really great to have an open space in La Crescenta for the community to enjoy,” Ally said. 

“To me that’s what this whole thing is about, it’s about our future,” said Steve Pierce, community volunteer and Montrose Ambassador.

“It’s going to be preserved so that there’s open space. I want to leave that space open for my grand kids,” Pierce said.

The area will serve as open property for docent-led hikes, not for busing people to the location, Pierce said. 

“We love our mountains. And when we come up the 2 Freeway and we see the mountains and we think ‘Oh my god, we’re home.’” Pierce said.

If you’d like to purchase a t-shirt to support the Rosemont Preserve, contact Steve Pierce at kspierce@charter.net. The group will also be at the . 

A tax-deductable donation can be made out to the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, please note on the check that the donation is for the Rosemont Preserve. You can send the check to 301 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 320, Pasadena, CA, 91011.  

Learn more about the AFC at www.arroyosfoothills.org.