Laguna Beach remembers conservation leader Elisabeth Brown

The Laguna Beach community lost a revered environmentalist earlier this month, as former Laguna Greenbelt president Elisabeth Brown has died.

Brown died peacefully on July 6, the organization announced. She was 81.

An active participant in environmental causes for several decades, Brown became president of Laguna Greenbelt in 1985, a role that she held until 2019.

“Liz was an excellent leader, a mixture of steadfast determination in achieving her goals mixed with a pragmatic understanding of what can be achieved,” said Norm Grossman, the current president of Laguna Greenbelt.

Born in New York City in 1943, Brown moved to her Laguna Canyon home with her husband, Allen, in the 1970s. She earned a master’s degree in zoology from UC Berkeley and a doctoral degree in biology from UC Irvine.

Brown played a pivotal role in bringing about agreements that have served to protect wildlife habitat and open space. Among her other roles, Brown was a founding board member of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, and she also served on the board for the Natural Communities Coalition.

Mayor Sue Kempf and Mayor Pro Tem Alex Rounaghi recognized the loss of Brown during the Laguna Beach City Council meeting on Tuesday night. Rounaghi referred to Brown as a “giant” in the community. Kempf added that there would be an item of extraordinary business in recognition of Brown during the next meeting on Aug. 13.

“She was involved with the Laguna Greenbelt and was part of the efforts to save the canyon and protect 22,000 acres of open space that we’re all able to enjoy today,” Rounaghi said. “She’s no longer with us, but I think her legacy will live on in the open space that will be preserved forever.”

The South Coast Wilderness consists of 22,000 acres of open space stretching across parts of Aliso Viejo, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange County.

Laguna Greenbelt continues to work toward the completion of an Irvine-Laguna wildlife corridor, a project that Brown had turned her attention to over the past couple of decades. When completed, the corridor is expected to connect the county’s coastal wilderness to the Cleveland National Forest.

Providing safe passage for wildlife with respect to the 5 and 405 freeways remains a challenge.

“It’s like a necklace,” Brown said of the wildlife corridor in an interview with the Daily Pilot in 2020. “If you cut one bead out of the necklace, then the whole thing falls apart. We have to be sure that everything works. All the animals can get through.”

Conservation efforts went hand in hand with Brown’s passion to educate the public on local ecology. She created field and trail guides, and she also contributed a regular column in Laguna Beach newspapers.