Happy Happy Birthday!!
Friends of Big Bear Valley
20 years ago, Pat Klous and Roman Silberfeld
founded Friends of Fawnskin in their back yard
When the County of San Bernardino announced a
new housing development was about to be approved
and built in Fawnskin with no environmental analysis,
Pat and Roman invited their Fawnskin neighbors over to
hear more about it...and 75 people showed up!
The County claimed that this development (Moon
Camp) would have no environmental impact. So many
people wrote comment letters to the County pointing out
the truth about that land (containing endangered habitat
and species) and the area of Fawnskin, that the County had to require that a full Environmental Impact Report be prepared
for the project.
The group of neighbors formed an Environmental Educational nonprofit to follow up on this and Friends of
Fawnskin was born.
Shortly after that, another developer (Marina Point) started building their project even though all their permits had expired... and the new FOF jumped into action to contact agencies and insist that they follow the law.
Soon, other organizations contacted us about proposed projects in their area of the valley.
So, FOF brought education about our valleyâs
special habitats and species and about our California and Federal environmental laws to those organizations, to local
residents and visitors and to valley agencies.
Since we grew quickly in our work all around the valley, we changed our name to Friends of Big Bear Valley to reflect
our broader perspective.
1. Over our history, we have negotiated with the:
- City,
- County, and
- A multitude of developers and agencies
To bring compromises and find ways for development projects to work around and protect our special habitats and species.
2. FOBBV also founded the Bear Valley Ecotourism Coalition
- Hosting the annual Outdoor Adventure Days,
- Showcasing our valleyâs amazing outdoor activities, and
- Our âUnique in the worldâ natural surroundings.
3. We installed the live stream bald eagle nest camera in 2015, in partnership with the USFS.
- To bring a deeper understanding of nature to the world, and
- Allow everyone to fall in love with Jackie,
Shadow and their chicks.
Thatâs just the first 20 years.
Imagine what weâll do in the next 20!
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