Bench honors former Mayor Lida Lenney’s fight for wilderness space

The Laguna Canyon Conservancy honored former Mayor Lida Lenney on Tuesday with a bench recognizing her efforts to protect the area from pending development.

The bench, on a trail a short distance from the Nix Nature Center, commemorates the fight Lenney and others waged to protect Laguna Canyon from development in the late 1980s. The efforts opened the door to acquiring space in what is now called Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, according to a news release.

Lenney, who died in 2004 at age 71, founded the conservancy in 1988 to help stave off the Irvine Co.’s Laguna Laurel housing project.

She had plenty of support.

On Nov. 11, 1989, about 7,500 people participated in a demonstration dubbed the “Walk in the Canyon.” The walk, led by Harry Huggins and Charles Michael Murray, began at Irvine Bowl Park and ended at “The Tell” at Sycamore Flats, according to the release. Sponsors included Laguna Greenbelt, Village Laguna, the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce and the city.

Eventually, Laguna Beach negotiated a deal to purchase the land, and 80% of city voters approved a $20-million bond measure to protect open space to form Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

More than 50 people attended Tuesday’s ceremony. They included conservancy President Carolyn Wood, former Laguna Beach Councilwomen Ann Christoph and Verna Rollinger, and OC Parks Supervising Ranger Barbara Norton.

The conservancy provided the funds for the memorial bench, and OC Parks and the Laguna Canyon Foundation co-sponsored the dedication.

The bench is inscribed with Lenney’s favorite quotation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,” by Margaret Mead.

In a way the bench answers a wish 10 years ago from Councilwoman Toni Iseman.

“We need to have some recognizable piece of the canyon named for her,” Iseman told the Coastline Pilot in November 2004 after Lenney’s death. “Laguna needs never to forget her. She followed her heart and made so many things that looked impossible happen.”