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The Los Angeles River is the birthplace of our region and was once the thriving, unifying water source for the people and wildlife of Los Angeles. But that connection and our collective history was severed when the River was encased in concrete and fenced in 1938. In an act of civil disobedience, poet activist Lewis MacAdams took the first steps to repair that severed connection in 1986 when he cut a hole in the chain link fence that obstructed Angelenos from their rightful River. He declared the River open to the people and swore to serve as its voice. And so, Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and the River Movement were born. FoLAR has endeavored for over 30 years to restore community connection and natural ecology as the single largest unifying force on the River – educating, empowering, and mobilizing over 70,000 Angelenos to repair habitat and fight for the policies that will reclaim our collective right to a healthy, thriving, and equitably accessible Los Angeles River. Our mission is to build capacity for communities, students, and future leaders to advocate for nature, climate, and equity on the Los Angeles River.

Oceana, the world's largest international organization focused exclusively on ocean conservation, was founded in 2001 by a group of leading foundations concerned that although the oceans constitute over 70 percent of the earth's surface, an extremely small percentage of environmental funding was dedicated to protecting them.  Oceana's campaigns are designed to change that by forcing clear, identifiable policy changes with real "in the water" results, usually in three to five years. Our international campaigns in North America, Europe, Chile, and Belize are focused on the actions agreed on by scientists throughout the world as necessary to preserve and restore marine life: Protect seafloor habitat from destructive bottom trawling; Set and enforce reasonable catch limits for commercial fishing; Stop subsidizing overcapacity in commercial fishing fleets; Stop marine pollution, particularly carbon dioxide emissions that are making the oceans more acidic; Oceana sets annual goals toward achieving specific changes and holds itself strictly accountable to its Board, funders, and supporters.  Since inception, Oceana has achieved dramatic success in protecting the world's oceans in targeted, practical ways.