About Us

Save Elephant Hill is a grassroots, resident-led organization based in El Sereno, a working class Latino community in Northeast Los Angeles. Since 2004, we have been at the forefront of preserving and protecting 110-acre Elephant Hill, one of the largest undeveloped open spaces in LA. Our work emphasizes equitable environmental protections for residents and fair and just investments in this unique natural resource and amenity. We undertake organizing, education, alliance building and advocacy; elevate the leadership of residents; and, make connections across intersectoral issues of land use and conservation, community health and well-being, and environmental justice.

1984–2003

Notorious Developer Ignites Backlash

1984 A group of private real estate investors plans to develop 30 single family homes on Elephant Hill.

1993–1994 Ignoring resident opposition the LA City Planning Commission denies residents’ appeal of its initial decision and approves the project.

1995–2003 Amid a real estate downturn, the project goes dormant until 2003.

2000's

Construction equipment in sink hole after a rain

Intense Struggle To Defend Public Space

2004 Save Elephant Hill leaders organize residents to oppose development and defend public space.

2006 Construction site sinkhole reveals a natural spring and flawed EIR.

2007 LA City Council votes to require supplemental environmental review.

2009 City of LA reaches settlement with developer and acquires 20-acres.

2010's

Receiving state funding. State legislators posing with community members.

Powerful Community Wins

2010 MRCA plans to acquire 5-acres on Elephant Hill with Prop 84 funds.

2011–2014 The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy approves funding for MRCA to to purchase land on Elephant Hill from the City of LA.

2016–2018 Save Elephant Hill meets with Supervisor Hilda Solis to make the case for LA County Proposition A funds.

2020's

Pandemic Challenges & Off-Roading

2020 Illegal off-roading explodes across Elephant Hill during COVID.

2021 Work with MRCA to develop off-roading mitigation plan.

2022 Save Elephant Hill seeks support from the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVRD) of California State Parks.

2023 OHMVRD awards $1.2M grant to stop off-roading on Elephant Hill.

Current

Mud and erosion from Elephant Hill after rain

Key Investments Begin

2024 LA County Safe Clean Water funding helps ensure a feasibility study on nature-based stormwater improvements around Elephant Hill.

2025 Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy votes to allocate $2 million for additional land acquisitions on Elephant Hill.

2026 Save Elephant Hill initiates planning and design work to support future land acquisitions, to guide future conservation work on Elephant Hill by MRCA.

View Full Timeline

Board Member

Damon Nagami, Secretary

Yvette Lopez-Ledesma, Treasurer

Kamren Curiel, Member

Elva Yañez, President

Community Partners

Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA)

Barrio Action

Clockshop

Coyotl + Macehualli

Elephant Hills Coffee

Heroes of Elephant Hill

LA-32 Neighborhood Council

North East Trees

Pacoima Beautiful

SALT Landscape Architects

Spherical

The Nature Conservancy

California Native Plant Society – LA/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter

Council for Watershed Health

El Sereno Historical Society

Los Angeles County Natural History Museum

Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains

Sierra Club Angeles Chapter

Superior Nut Co.

Test Plot

TreePeople

Wilson High School Environmental Academy

Water Foundation

Agencies

Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department

Mountains Conservation and Recreation Authority

Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis

Office of California State Senator Maria Elena Durazo

Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District

Safe Clean Water Program

Office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado

Office of California Assemblymember Jessica Caloza

Office of U.S. Representative Jimmy Gomez

"For decades, Save Elephant Hill has tirelessly protected one of the last open green spaces in Los Angeles. As one of the first grassroots, community-led organizations to win funding from L.A. County’s Safe, Clean Water Program (SCWP), they are proactively advancing nature-based solutions in a highly urbanized setting, protecting the waters and living beings that call Elephant Hill home."
- Andy Lipkis, Founder, TreePeople and Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA)

"Save Elephant Hill has been a powerful ally in protecting open space and ensuring communities in Northeast Los Angeles have access to nature. Pacoima Beautiful deeply values their leadership in expanding conservation efforts that center both people and habitat. Their work reminds us that environmental justice and land conservation go hand in hand"
- Veronica Padilla-Campos, Executive Director, Pacoima Beautiful