Those who drive through Carbon Canyon may have noticed bulldozing on the north side of the road across from the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center. It’s always disconcerting to see natural land torn up. This time, those are “good” bulldozers. They’re creating a restoration site, as mitigation for the nearby Brea 265 housing project under construction on Aera Energy land along Rose Drive and Valencia. Once the restoration project is successfully completed, the approximately 60 acres is expected to be turned over as an addition to Chino Hills State Park. The process to accept that dedication of land is underway in the Parks Department.

For those of you who are familiar with a map of Chino Hills State Park, you may have noticed eight little equal size squares of land. These squares do not belong to the Park. Instead, they were inholdings held back as future oil drilling sites when Shell Oil originally sold that parcel to the state in 1983. These eight sites (22 acres total of inholdings) will also now become part of the State Park.