Park Ranger George Hill led an on‑location tour of Canyon Park in Monrovia with Monrovia community television hosts Ralph Walker and Erwin Muir, highlighting a refurbished cabin, a new nature center, upgraded restrooms and newly built accessible trails.

Hill said the cabin expansion added roughly 400 square feet to the original structure and that the building now has heating and air conditioning. “It’s handicapped accessible,” Hill said of the cabin and upper nature center, adding that several trails and picnic sites are also accessible.

The segment emphasized the park’s growing role in local school curriculum. Hill and staff described a weekly program that brings two groups of “like, 60 children” each to the park for outdoor lessons; Plymouth School and a teacher identified as Miss Huey appeared during the visit. “We’re getting two groups of, like, 60 children in the park,” Hill said, describing how students visit the stream and trails and then return with their families.

Why this matters: park staff said the upgrades are intended to increase safe public access and outdoor education. Hill said the park has shifted landscaping practices to native species only and that previous outdoor vault toilets were replaced because they were under‑designed for visitor volumes.

Park staff described construction details for accessibility: a firm trail surface made from decomposed granite mixed with cement runs for several hundred feet to provide wheelchair access to scenic overlooks, and newly refurbished restrooms replaced vault toilets that had limited capacity. Hill said funding for the cabin work traces to 1992, and that renovations used existing building sites rather than expanding into new areas of the park.

The tour also covered the park’s cultural history. Staff recounted the Rankin family, early canyon residents who sold honey and lumber to Los Angeles; three Rankin children died of typhoid and their original gravesites were later exhumed and moved to Live Oak Cemetery in Monrovia and then to a cemetery in Altadena. Staff noted a partial monument and archival photos on display in the nature center.

Staff encouraged volunteer involvement and provided contact numbers on camera. Hill gave the park entry station number as 359‑4214 for park questions and volunteer opportunities; for rental and permit information he directed callers to the Department of Community Services at 357‑5046. “That’ll get you to park entry station, and anyone in the park staff can answer questions,” Hill said when giving the first number.

No formal actions, votes or policy changes were recorded during the visit; the segment functioned as a public‑facing tour and information update. Staff recommended contacting the Department of Community Services for group rentals, permits and details about volunteer tasks such as trail maintenance and interpretation.

The segment closed with hosts encouraging viewers to visit Canyon Park and consider volunteering or booking the cabin for group use.