Concerned about the lack of open space and parkland in her district and region, in 2003 then Congresswoman Hilda Solis incorporated language into federal legislation to instruct the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a study to determine if the San Gabriel Mountains, Watershed, and River area (including the Puente Hills) was worthy of protection and inclusion as a new National Recreation Area. The Report, concluded it was worthy of inclusion in the National Park System but the Bush administration took no action.
Congresswoman Judy Chu led the next effort to establish the area as a National Monument.
- In October 2014, President Obama declared 346,000 acres of the San Gabriel Mountains as a new National Monument.
- In 2003, then Congresswoman Hilda Solis spearheaded an effort to bring more recreational opportunities and protected open space to the eastern Los Angeles Basin through a formal National Park Service Special Resource Study to see if the area is suitable for possible inclusion in the National Park System.
- The NPS undertook an analysis of the region’s resources and developed an extensive outreach program to solicit public input.
- Since Congress failed to act on the legislation, Representative Judy Chu asked President Obama to use his Executive Order authority to designate the San Gabriel National Monument.
- The designation did not include portions of the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor (specifically, the Shell-Aera property)