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"Huron the Beautiful" is a vision for the future of California’s San Joaquin Valley. As climate change and groundwater depletion threaten the future of industrial agriculture, a new model for sustainable land management and economic opportunity is desperately needed. Forged from a partnership between Cal Poly Pomona’s Department of Landscape Architecture, the City of Huron, the LEAP Institute, and the National Park Service Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance, the "Huron the Beautiful" vision plan proposes transforming a 3000-acre federally-owned flood detention basin bordering the California Aqueduct into a multi-benefit recreation area that restores native habitat, attracts regional visitors, creates "green jobs," provides environmental learning opportunities, and empowers local communities through co-management.

This vision emerged from a multi-scalar, systems-based approach to landscape analysis, informed by geospatial modeling, peer-reviewed literature, public reports, multiple site visits, and community engagement activities. This analysis process revealed the major challenges that must be overcome. First, the severity of asbestos contamination in the flood detention basin—an unfortunate result of the construction of the California Aqueduct and a glaring example of environmental injustice for the community of Huron—must be mitigated. The vision plan proposes landscape-scale solutions to the threat of asbestos contamination that include the capping of high-density recreation areas to the diversion of the seasonal stream carrying the polluted sediment.

The second major challenge is the removal and management of invasive saltcedar (Tamarix spp.), which degrades native upland habitat that rare species depend on. The "Huron the Beautiful" vision plan proposes a community-based approach to ecosystem restoration, where native plants and seeds are grown on-site, contract grazing is incorporated into the adaptive management program, and the resulting jobs, internships, and educational programs help local residents transition out of agriculture and into the "restoration economy."

Finally, the history of environmental injustice at the flood detention basin must be addressed. The City of Huron, less than 1 mile from the site, faces yearly risks of flooding and the threat of airborne asbestos, challenges exacerbated by climate change, dredging of the project site, and limited control of off-road vehicle use. In the San Joaquin Valley, marginalized, farm-working communities such as Huron often bear the brunt of the environmental impacts resulting from industrial agriculture. In the case of Huron, the project site presents an opportunity to reverse some of these environmental injustices by repurposing the flood detention basin for the educational, recreational, and economic benefit of Huron. The vision plan accomplishes this through three distinct programming areas: (1) a research and education campus that serves as a hub for school field trips, outdoor learning, and environmental research, (2) a community recreation area that provides local residents with a nearby opportunity to connect to nature in an overwhelmingly agricultural landscape, and (3) a regional landmark where the project site intersects with the California Aqueduct that would attract visitors from across the state to observe the California Aqueduct, appreciate the ecological restoration of the project site, and reflect on the agricultural past, present, and future of the San Joaquin Valley.