Monarch Restoration Garden

The Louis Robidoux Parkland and Pecan Grove (LRPPG) is a 40-A property located along the Santa Ana River in unincorporated Riverside County. Prior to April of 2017, the property was managed by the Riverside County Regional Parks and Open Space District (RCPOSD), during which time on-site features including a public trails system, historic pecan grove, indigeneous bedrock mortars, and the adjacent Sunnyslope Creek served as the backdrop for a suite of conservation-focused public education and outreach programming. In the spring of 2017, budget concerns forced closure of the Parkland (then known as the Louis Robidoux Nature Center), as RCPOSD searched for an alternative site manager able to reinitiate activities at the site.

In May of 2019, site management was awarded to the then-Louis Robidoux Nature Center Consortium, a collaborative of partners consisting of 501c3s Huerta del Valle and Sunshine Haven Wildlife Rehab, and government agencies including Inland Empire Resource Conservation District, Orange County Water District, and the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District.  Under an agreement with RCPOSD, the partners completed extensive rehabilitation of the existing education center on site; held community meetings to solicit public opinion on best next steps for the property; and created a series of long-term goals for return of site function and benefit focused on the surrounding community.  Unfortunately, a fire on Halloween of 2019 stopped forward progress with extensive damage to the site, including complete destruction of the education center building.

In the fall of 2020, the same collaborative group was re-awarded the right to manage the renamed Louis Robidouix Parkland and Pecan Grove (LRPPG) for a period of 25 years with two optional fifteen year extensions.  Since the contract update, partners have been working to advance individual and shared site goals within the common objective of return of site function and benefit to the community.