KEN CROSS IN TEXAS 2017: Third [un] real Day in LA

it is not dangerous to photograph traffic as you drive...

Today started slightly later than usual - at 6am for breakfast and then, at 6-30am Bob - Our Man in LA - took us to his Wild Birds Unlimited Store where we met some more local birders before a cross-town birding adventure to a place known as Deb Park. The drive over was yet another LA Freeway adventure albeit slower than usual....

The Audubon Center at Debs Park opened in 2003 as an environmental education and conservation center, and first LEED platinum certified building in the country.

Deb's Park Audubon Centre [photo by Rob Naples]

Often described as a "hidden jewel", the Audubon Center at Debs Park seeks to engage with the local communities of northeast Los Angeles. The Center is located in the fourth largest park in the city of Los Angeles. More than half of the park is covered in walnut-oak woodland, grassland, and coastal sage scrub, a remnant of the native habitats that once rimmed the Los Angeles Basin. Over 140 species of birds have been recorded here.

The Center’s mission is to inspire people to experience, understand and care for the local natural world. The nature-based education and community programs at Debs Park are designed to engage children and their families in the outdoor world, and to give them a personal stake in its protection by making environmental issues relevant to their lives. The Center is operated by Audubon California, a state field program of National Audubon Society, and is a vital part of Audubon’s national outreach initiative to engage Latino audiences. The Center, which is surrounded by predominately Latino neighborhoods, is a unique gathering place and dynamic focal point for outdoor recreation, environmental education and conservation action.

Bob Shanman - our man in LA; wondering how to get the hell up the hill

Sandra et el among the mustard...

Recently split Californian Scrub Jay

Anna's Hummingbird male

Bushtit collecting nesting material

View of Downtown LA from the DEbs Park Hill

History of Ballona Wetlands

When the early earth was forming, natural occurrences like volcanoes and rainfalls helped create what we now know as Playa del Rey. Wind and sand formed sand dunes and behind these dunes, marshy waters flourished near modern-day Santa Monica Bay.

Ancient humans were attracted to these rich fertile areas that provided an abundance of renewable food supply. The first inhabitants of Ballona arrived around 8-10 thousand years ago, and were eventually replaced by people from the Mohave Desert who called themselves the Tongva.

In the many centuries since the Tongva inhabited the Ballona Wetlands much has changed. The ever-growing Los Angeles metropolis makes it increasingly harder for the plants and animals that rely on Ballona to survive . Within the last two hundred years, a miniscule amount of time on the geological time scale, the wetlands were changed forever. The first major change came from agriculture, later industry, followed by a boom in population.

Around 1820, a mestizo rancher named Augustine Machado chose Ballona Wetlands to graze his cattle. After claiming fourteen-thousand acres thanks to a land grant provided by the Mexican government, Machado took ownership of the area that today stretches from Culver City to Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica. Machado called the land “Rancho La Ballona.” While the Machados became wealthy, Ballona suffered its first major blow due to the conflicting needs between the natural landscape and the grazing livestock.

After Machado lost his claim to the land , the first signs of industry started appearing in and around Ballona. While these businesses thrived, the tides and weather inevitably proved much too strong for the owners, eventually washing away any profitable establishment in the area .

Ballona and the 20th Century

In the 1920’s, the invention of the car made the beach more accessible than ever, inspiring hopeful builders to set their sights on the high grounds. They named their new development Palisades del Rey. When oil was discovered shortly thereafter, the tourism and new, major motion picture industries took a back seat to the promise of black-gold. As had occurred in the past, Ballona was yet again subjected to harsh, unsustainable conditions that left the wetlands disfigured and grossly polluted.

The time of the aviation age brought about heightened interest in development. During this time The Army Corps of Engineers invested much of their efforts into flood-control. They dredged and cemented the banks and bottoms and installed flap gates to drain freshwater run-off. This new system made way for more establishments during the 1930’s-1960’s that would further disturb Ballona’s natural landscape.

The single most devastating blow, however, came in the 1960’s with the construction of Marina del Rey. Over 900 acres of wetlands were destroyed for its construction, since the Coastal Commission did not exist back then to ensure protection of the wetlands.

Recent Struggles and Successes

Still, the wetlands would nevertheless regain some of their strength. As the tide gates began to rust, and salt water made its way back in, new wildlife reappeared. The promise of replenished wetlands met with resistance yet again, when Howard Hughes, who had purchased the property before WWII, died in 1976. After leaving the property to his heirs, plans were quickly drawn up to develop the area including Ballona. What they called The Summa Corporation Playa del Vista plan would consume all but 72 of the 1,187 wetland acres.

In response to this proposed development, the Friends of Ballona Wetlands formed a grassroots movement to try and stop further damage to the precious wetlands. The Friends filed a lawsuit after the Suma plan was approved, claiming that the development of the wetlands inconsistent with the California Coastal Act, but from 1984-1989, Suma refused to compromise. Good news eventually came when Suma sold Playa Vista to Maguire Thomas Partners who negotiated with Ballona in 1990, giving up a significant portion of the 1,187 acres, and paying for much of its restoration.

New activist sects sprang up in the 1990’s to dispute different elements around Ballona. Many had a stake in the area: from animal-right activists who advocated for the invasive red-fox to those who opposed any kind of construction in or around the Playa Vista area.

Ballona Today

At the turn of the 21st century, The Ballona Wetlands Foundation, a science-based organization, began a series of yearly symposiums. These meetings coincided with a world-wide movement of interest in wetlands preservation. In 2003, the state purchased 192 acres and accepted Playa Vista’s donation of 291 acres. This new acquisition totaled the protected area to around 600 acres of precious wetlands. The state’s purchase initiated talks of formal, comprehensive restoration plan by the Coastal Conservancy for the newly-protected wetlands. In 2004 construction on the new tidegate was completed. The new tidegate replaced an older tidegate, installed in 1996, that had limited tidal action and severely deteriorated salt marsh. The new tidegate assists in flood control and improves water flow into the wetlands, allowing sea life to enter the wetlands more naturally while increasing tidal flushing.