The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the San Gabriel River and its tributaries, the lower Los Angeles River and its tributaries, the San Gabriel Mountains, Puente Hills, San Jose Hills, Santa Catalina Island, and the Dominguez Channel watershed constitute a unique and important open-space, environmental, anthropological, cultural, scientific, educational, recreational, scenic, and

wildlife resource that should be held in trust to be preserved and enhanced for the enjoyment of, and appreciation by, present and future generations.