SPECIAL REPORT * Southeast L.A. County, once known as a home to heavy industry, is awakening to the need for . . .

It used to be that foundries, factories, tire plants and other heavy industry were the way of life in the blue-collar towns of South Gate, Bell, Cudahy, Maywood, Bell Gardens and Paramount. Tree-hugging environmentalists were nowhere in sight in southeastern Los Angeles County.

Not anymore.

These days, ambitious plans to create more parks and bike paths next to the concrete-channeled Los Angeles River are enthusiastically embraced. An event unheard of in the past--a nature walk along the river in South Gate--recently drew 50 nature lovers and local residents. There’s even a new government agency, the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers Conservancy, to look out for the needs of this often-overlooked sector and others in the Southland.

In short, it’s an exciting new world for environmentalists who are pleased that the largely Latino towns downstream from downtown Los Angeles are becoming interested in the river and the environment.

“This is a wonderful thing to see,” said Lewis MacAdams, president of the Friends of the Los Angeles River. “The urban river movement is one of the most interesting parts of the environmental movement. It’s not just an Anglo thing anymore.”

Residents in these towns say the growing interest in the river and related issues makes sense, especially because park space in the southeast section of the county is scarce.

In Bell Gardens and Maywood, for example, where the ratio of park space to residents is below the countywide average, officials are pushing for more parks to meet burgeoning population growth.

“The river is a major part of this city that has been ignored in the past,” said South Gate Mayor Hector De La Torre. “If you’re looking to find green space, the river is a logical place to look.”

Added Maywood restaurant owner Luis Lara, who regularly rides his bike along the river: “We really don’t have any natural habitats. The river can be something really nice, something that’s in our own backyard.”

More than a quarter of a century ago, the river was a backdrop as heavy industry--including a General Motors assembly plant, a Firestone tire factory and a U.S. Steel plant--became integral to the largely industrial character that dominated the cities from Vernon to Paramount.

These plants provided jobs to blue-collar Los Angeles. The southeast cities were populated by many of these folks, including families that had escaped from the Dust Bowl and Depression poverty and then dominated the area’s political life.

In those years, the river, which was turned into a concrete channel in the late 1930s to combat flooding downstream from downtown, was just another barrier to cross in the ever-expanding area.

The southeast area’s political establishment looked to heavy industry to provide a crucial abundance of jobs to local residents to fuel the region’s economic growth. Environmental concerns were ignored.

But in the last 20 years, many of the area’s big factories closed, leaving a rust belt of abandoned plants. In one example, three tire plants went out of business as the popularity of foreign-made autos depressed the need for domestically made tires.

At the same time, immigration from Mexico and Central America dramatically changed the face of the southeast cities, creating new majorities of Spanish-surnamed residents. With this new political reality, a generation of Latino politicians came to office. Although retail and service-related jobs increased, these new lawmakers were forced to deal with improving civic life without heavy industry and its valuable tax dollars.

In a change from previous political leaders, they have embraced an environmentalist outlook as they have sought to improve their constituents’ quality of life.

These cities aren’t the only ones examining the Los Angeles River.

A yearlong series of forums, nature walks and other events organized at Occidental College with the help of several environmental groups has been focusing on the past, present and future of the river. The events have taken place in communities with an interest in the river, ranging from the Westside and Pasadena to Long Beach.

When several longtime environmentalists noticed river-oriented events in the southeast area--such as an April 13 forum in South Gate--they admitted they were surprised.

“I’m sure there is interest in those cities, but I . . . just had no idea,” one Audubon Society member from Topanga Canyon said sheepishly.

“Oh, the interest is here, all right,” De La Torre said.

In the past five years, coinciding with the rise of Latino political power in these cities, interest in the river has grown. In some instances, the cities have had to save money for several years for the effort.

“We’ve had $4.2 million for the past four years to spend on acquiring parkland,” said Cudahy Mayor George Perez, who remembers throwing rocks and hunting for tadpoles in the river as a youth. “We’re ready.

“There aren’t any Sierra Club or Audubon Society people in our city. That’s OK. We’re doing this ourselves and we’re cooperating with others.”

Aided by lawmakers such as Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles), who represents the southeast area, and groups such as the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization dedicated to acquiring and preserving land for open space, civic projects to assemble property for river-linked park projects, unheard of a few years ago, are underway:

* The cities of South Gate and Cudahy are cooperating in the project to buy land for a park on the river’s west bank at Fostoria Street.

* Bell Gardens broke ground for a park and “bike path gateway” on the river’s east bank, near Jaboneria Road, as a rest stop for cyclists and joggers. Officials hope to use a nearby rail bridge to link the new park with an existing bike path on the river’s west bank.

* South Gate expects to construct a second park where the Los Angeles River and the Rio Hondo converge. The site already has a name: Confluence Park.

* Paramount just received land acquired by the Trust for Public Land to add a parking lot and restroom facilities at the Ralph C. Dills Park on the river’s east bank.

* Maywood is purchasing a seven-acre parcel for a park next to the river at Walker Avenue and 59th Street.

A key part of the land-acquisition campaign is the recently created San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers Conservancy, which may steer funds to cities interested in acquiring parkland.

The conservancy, created by measures by state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente) and Assemblywoman Sally Havice (D-Cerritos), already has a southeast advocate in De La Torre, who was appointed to the governing board by outgoing Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles).

Additional funds are also available to the cities from the recently passed Proposition 12, the park and open space bond measure on the March 7 ballot.

In the Spanish-speaking precincts in the southeast area--where environmental issues aren’t exactly the talk of the neighborhood--many see the value of more parkland, regardless of where it is.

“Right now, we have problems with the gangs,” said Cudahy resident Guadalupe Pimentel. “Anything the city can do to fight the gangs is good.”

Esteban Vina, a truck driver from Bell Gardens, added: “I’m always driving over the river and I sometimes wonder what’s down there. Back home [in the Mexican state of Chihuahua], we enjoy things like the river. It would be nice if we could do that here, too.”

Officials hope the river activity will excite local residents like Abel Castro of Bell.

“We may not live in a powerful city,” Castro, a meat packer, said in Spanish, “but let’s hope we can live in a better city with more parks and a nice river to enjoy. That would be nice.”