Los Angeles and Mono Lake lost a fierce advocate, role model, partner, and friend with the recent passing of Juana Beatriz Gutierrez. As remembrances of Juana’s life pour in, we share in celebration of her life, and the legacy of her passion that lives on here at Mono Lake.
As the story goes
In 1994, money from Assembly Bill 444 was being used to implement a voluntary water conservation program in Los Angeles to benefit the ecosystem of Mono Lake.
As part of the AB 444 implementation, community groups, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP), installed residential water conservation equipment, primarily low-flush toilets, within the DWP service area. Community group members were trained in the water conservation equipment installation and given free toilets to distribute in their neighborhoods. One of those groups was Mothers of East Los Angeles – Santa Isabel (MELASI), co-founded by Juana.
Part of a greater effort to show that the people of LA could easily conserve more water than was needed to save Mono Lake, the toilet retrofit program was both popular and successful. Together with MELASI, the Mono Lake Committee envisioned an idea to bridge the gap between Los Angeles youth and the origins of their water.
Led by Juana & Ricardo Gutierrez, co-founders of MELASI, a group of MELASI families traveled from LA for four days of camping and immersive watershed education at Mono Lake. Reflecting on the impact that this trip had on her group, Juana said in 1994, “In time these young people will become involved in the struggle to keep these places alive.”
That first camping trip was the spark that began what is now the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center (OEC) program, now in its 31st season. They camped up Lee Vining Canyon and were visited by a bear. It was quite an experience, and while everyone was fine, when they got home their daughter, Elsa Lopez, looked for a place where groups could more easily basecamp. She called DWP, which let them use the unoccupied aqueduct supervisor’s house. Today, that house is the home of the OEC, and has hosted four generations of the Gutierrez family and thousands of Los Angeles youth at the north end of their watershed.
“Doña Juana was an early advocate for brown people and minorities, both those living in her local community and those who enjoyed and recreated on our shared public lands. She made the watershed connection between LA and Mono Lake come to life while providing life-changing opportunities for people in underserved communities.” said Santiago Escruceria, Outdoor Education Center Manager.
Just like that first trip, today groups visit Mono Lake to connect with the source of their water through multi-day trips full of watershed education through hands-on learning and stewardship activities.
Honoring Juana
In November the Mono Lake Committee presented an award to Juana & Ricardo Gutierrez, honoring their environmental justice activism for their community of East Los Angeles, and for Mono Lake.
It was a special way to celebrate the ongoing legacy—with the couple’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, community advocates and active Mono Lake champions.
This week members of Juana’s family came to Mono Lake and gathered for a three-generation celebration on Rush Creek where Juana and Ricardo first planted trees in the 1990s to help restore the streamside forests lost to DWP’s excessive water diversions. Son Gabriel Gutierrez, grandson mark! Lopez, and great granddaughter Luna Lopez, all advocates in their own right, stood in the shade of trees she helped plant—now towering, vibrant, and strong.
On May 6 the Los Angeles City Council adjourned in memory of Juana in a moving motion.
To learn more:
- Article by mark! Lopez Tell the Stories
- Article in the LAist: Juana Beatriz Gutierrez, who helped make East LA mothers a political force, dies at 93
Top photo by Geoff McQuilkin.