It was a beautiful day today out at Tres Hermanos Ranch, the 2,445-acre parcel administered by an Authority composed of the cities of Chino Hills, Diamond Bar and Industry, as the first-ever public tours of this amazing property, situated just north of Carbon Canyon, were offered.
Authority officials and staff from the three cities did a great job of organizing and carrying out this initial offering, for which the available 104 seats were snapped up in a matter of minutes, with some 400 persons placed on a waiting list.
Tours were held at 9, 10, and 11 a.m. as well as Noon with guests meeting at the nearby Diamond Bar Community Center and transported by bus to the ranch. Ben Montgomery and Dan Fox, the city managers of Chino Hills, in which 70% of the ranch is situated, and Diamond Bar, which comprises the remaining 30%, rode along on the buses and provided information.
Their Industry counterpart, Joshua Nelson, who has an extensive engineering background, met visitors at the first stop, the Arnold Reservoir, dating to about 1918, and discussed it and future work to be done to better stabilize and support it.
At the second stop, near some historic barns and outbuildings, yours truly, a Chino Hills resident and director of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, a City of Industry owned and funded historic site, provided a general historical background.
The third and last location was deep in the southern reaches of Tres Hermanos, a beautiful and isolated locale, where Cal Poly Pomona emeritus professor of plant sciences, Dan Hostetler, also a Chino Hills resident, talked about the flora and fauna, past and present, at the Ranch.
Given that this was a first effort, it was remarkably well-run by the dedicated staff of the Authority and the three cities and guests appeared to be astounded and impressed by the ranch and, we hope, the information given by the presenters.
There needs to be an evaluation of the event and consideration of what future possibilities might be entertained for further public access, so those interested in knowing more can periodically check the Authority website.
Meanwhile, for those who want to know more about the early history of the ranch, along with a review of how the day went, please head over to The Homestead Blog for a post covering these topics.
