Places to Visit: Ballona Creek Bike Path Sculpture Gates and Mini-Parks

McConnell Avenue gate by Brett Goldstone 2009

After yesterday’s talk, I rode the Ballona Creek Bike Path and checked out the still-relatively-new art gates there. In an earlier L.A. Creek Freak post, Jessica covered the gates’ and mini-parks’ December 4th 2009 dedication. Additional online coverage can be found at Ballona Creek Renaissance’s (BCR) April 2010 newsletter. After the jump are listing and mapping of the gate/park sites, and photos of the gates as they appear today.  

Chirps of praise for LA River willows and floodplains

Bird nerds and Creek freaks talk, compare notes, pass messages. Much to my delight, the following account of LA River bird sitings from the LA County Birding group (you can join this group at Yahoo!Groups) by Natural History Museum ornithologist Kimball Garrett came my way today:

I followed up on Dan Cooper’s cuckoo suggestion and walked the L. A.  River this morning (28 June) from the Glendale Freeway downstream to a point about  200 m below Newell Street. My expectations of not finding cuckoos were  spectacularly realized, but I remain impressed by the other birds in this linear  riparian woodland. Along this 0.8 mile reach there were 9 territorial (singing)  Yellow Warblers, about the highest density I’ve ever seen. Add to this 6  singing Common Yellowthroats and 3 singing Song Sparrows and you have a pretty  good contingent of riparian birds for a concrete-bank channel just a couple  of miles from downtown Los Angeles. And I was surprised to find two singing Yellow-breasted Chats – one at the end of Newell Street (in riverbottom  willows and later in a cottonwood on top of the bank right next to the street)  and another about 200 m downstream opposite power pole #H425 (but most  easily found by listening for all the chat racket). I observed one fledged Yellow  Warbler and heard other begging calls, so it’s heartening to know they’re  raising at least some young despite all the cowbirds around. Lots of swallows  (Barn, Cliff, N. Rough-winged), but no sign of Chaetura swifts. At least 10  Nutmeg Mannikins were in the arundo and willows ¼ mile below the Glendale Fwy.  where the river flow veers toward the far bank.

Thanks to Dan Cooper for sending the post along. Dan noted to me that Yellow Warbler and Yellow Breasted Chat are both California Species of Special Concern.

Yes, birds and willows – you’ll recall I wrote about that a few weeks ago – as well as a less popular topic – the value of natural flooding riparian systems. So I was pleasantly surprised when Kimball and I had a subsequent exchange (I was asking permission to quote his account above) and he offered the following unsolicited thoughts:

A healthy riparian system has different terrace levels, allowing riparian forest and lower and more successional habitats like mulefat scrub, cattail marsh, annual meadow growth, etc., to coexist within the floodplain.  The taller, older “forest” is now the dominant habitat in the river channel, with the rest of the channel being mostly fast-flowing river water and stands of arundo.  What’s now missing in most areas are the backwater pool/marsh areas that had lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, ducks, herons, etc.  (The LA River’s tall riparian woodland close against the water today) is an interesting (though unnatural) habitat succession that has been good for some birds and bad for others.  What we really need is a river floodplain that’s ten times wider than what we have now…

I am always happy to learn it’s not just the creekfreaks that think so. Making that happen in urban LA is another story. At the very least, we can re-establish these narrower naturalized rivers with the riparian woodland, and develop long term strategies for regaining as much floodplain as possible – and in undeveloped areas like the Santa Clara River preserve the entire floodplain and its terraces.

Some Recent Cheong Gye Cheon Images

Visitors crossing stepping stone bridge across Seoul's Cheong Gye Cheon creek

One of L.A. Creek Freak’s perenial favorite posts is our earlier coverage of the Cheong Gye Cheon stream project in downtown Seoul, South Korea. It’s an impressive project where a visionary mayor lead the charge to remove a freeway in order to daylight the historic creek where the city of Seoul began. Sounds familiar, no?

Some Headworks History

The Water Seekers by Remi Nadeau, Fourth Edition, 1997 Revised, Crest Publishers, Santa Barbara

I recently finished reading Remi Nadeau‘s The Water Seekers, a book which I highly recommend. It’s a very readable (almost folksy) history of Los Angeles and broader Southern California efforts in seeking water from faraway places. It  focuses mainly on the water grabs from Owens Valley and from the Colorado River, with excellent overview and lots of great detail – especially excellent anecdotes and stories. It’s fairly balanced - not excessively booster-ist about how much thirsty L.A. really needed all that water. 

There are probably more than a dozen L.A. Creek Freak posts I can drag out of The Water Seekers. I will start with a somewhat minor one – the story of the city of Los Angeles’ Headworks site, with some related water conservation and legal history thrown in for good measure. 

Some Dramatic River Imagery from China and Alaska

Well… none of these are the creeks of Los Angeles…  but, enjoy:

Underwater Photography by Yang Yi

Chinese artist Yang Yi takes digitally manipulates photographs to create surreal haunting beautiful underwater photos of his hometown, which has been completely submerged by the Yangtze River waters impounded behind the Three Gorges Dam. In case you’re unfamiliar with that record-settingly notorious dam – the world’s largest hydropower project, it has displaced more than 1.2million people and submerged 13 cities, 140 towns and 1350 villages – all per the excellent non-profit group International Rivers. The compound arch bridge in the photo above reminds me of the historic North Broadway Bridge adjacent to Los Angeles State Historic Park (see the image atop their blog).

For more and larger Yang Yi images, go to bumbumbum and Fabrik and ///.

Underwater Photo by Yang Yi

Shifting from China to Alaska, follow this link for “Alluvial Porn” – actually just a great long aerial image of the Yukon River and the Porcupine River.

(Corrected 23 June 2010 – Thanks to commenter skr!)

News and Events – 20 June 2010

RECENT CREEK FREAK NEWS

On Spring at Los Angeles State Historic Park - photo from CA State Parks

> On Spring has opened at the site of Sam’s Lunch, adjacent to Los Angeles State Historic Park. The restaurant offers healthy yummy food. Mainly open at lunchtime (hours Tues-Sat 11am-3pm.) The park is once again the site of archeological explorations… but there’s still plenty of park open for use!

> Whenever a driver hits the brakes, copper gets onto our roadways and makes its way into our creeks and streams, impairing fish health. H2ONCoast reports that states, including California, are looking to take steps toward making this less of an issue. (and, of course, ride a bike!)

> Are stronger federal protections on the way for the San Gabriel River and the San Gabriel Moutains? L.A. Times’ Louis Sahagun reports on recent efforts. 

UPCOMING CREEK FREAK EVENTS

> On Thursday June 24th the city of L.A. hosts a couple of public River Revival meetings where you can get the latest on the city’s riverly revitalization. Same meeting repeats 1pm-4pm and 6pm-9pm at the L.A. River Center and Gardens at 570 West Avenue 26 in Cypress Park. See flier for information.

City Listening II this Saturday

> Creek Freak’s Joe Linton will among many excellent speakers at de LaB’s City Listening II at 7pm on Saturday June 26th 2010 at Spring Arts Tower, 435 S. Spring in Downtown Los Angeles. For more information and to purchase tickets go here. Anyone who arrives by walking, riding their bike or taking public transportation receives a very special walking-themed door prize!

> Creek Freak’s Joe Linton will give a talk on the Los Angeles River at 2pm on Tuesday June 29th 2010 at L.A. County’s Culver City Julian Dixon Library as part of their Make Waves at Your Library Summer Reading Program. The library is located at 4975 Overland Ave., Culver City 90230.

> L.A. and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council hosts  Harvesting the Rain: Decentralized Stormwater Management seminar from 9am-4pm on Wednesday June 30th 2010 at the Autry National Center. Includes afternoon tour of Elmer Avenue.

> The city of Glendale hosts a public meeting for input on future phases of their Glendale Narrows Riverwalk project – including a planned bridge connecting bicyclists and pedestrians to Griffith Park. The meeting is at 6:30pm on Wednesday June 30th 2010 at Glendale’s Grayson Power Plant at 780 Flower Street, Glendale, CA 91201. See Creek Freak background on the project here.

Seeking Information on Unexplained Death on the River Bikeway in Cudahy

 

Small shrine commemorating a man apparently killed on the River Bike Path

A bike-path-side shrine appeared recently on the South County Los Angeles River Bike Trail, adjacent to Cudahy City Park. A small handwritten sign on the fence states:

Any information on workers and How they were driving when My Dad was Killed Please Please CALL ME Alfredo Lopez Weichinger. Help Us Bring Justice. Please. Cell - 805-441-4510. My Dads House – 323-562-1902

Our condolences to the family. L.A. Creek Freak doesn’t have further information. We encourage anyone who does to contact the family.

Sign from family seeking information on the death of their father

R.I.P Karl Weichinger

Testimonials, Flowers, Candles

Thanks to Bobby Gadda for the story and photos.

The power of sticks and stones, meandering and gabions…. a visit to Quail Springs Permaculture Farm

Permaculture for adults, toads for kids

Once a spring stops flowing, can it ever come back? This is a question that is much closer to home than many Angelenos might realize, given the rich hydrological history of our beloved but over-paved metropolitan area.

Rare fish make a comeback in San Bernadino…last year

Press Enterprise photo of Santa Ana Speckled Dace. Photo by Rodrigo Peña.

 You could say Creekfreak missed the event horizon, like by a year, on this one!Googling away for info on our local native fish, I came across this Press Enterprise article from last year, about the return of the Santa Ana Speckled Dace to City Creek out in San Bernadino County. Never too late to be psyched about the return of a fish! 

Return of Santa Ana River speckled dace to City Creek surprises biologists

Little chirps in praise of willows and floods

Photo: Don Sterba, reprinted by LA Times

[ERRATA: Photo of Least bell's vireo was previously erroneously attributed to the LA Times. The photographer is Don Sterba, who also was the person to see and identify the bird. Apologies to Mr. Sterba for the error. The LA Times published his photo with credit, the oversight here was mine.]

Two pair of Least bell’s vireo, an endangered willow-loving bird, have set up camp in the vicinity of the Ballona Freshwater Marsh. Thanks to the Friends of Ballona Wetlands blog and the LA Times for getting the word out!  The Times piece also touches on the controversy associated with the freshwater marsh and Playa Vista development. I do disagree with the Times’ characterization of the drainage “ditch” Hughes dug. It may have become a drainage ditch, but early USGS maps clearly indicate that Centinela Creek flowed through the land that became Hughes’ airfield, and the landscape there would have been a floodplain and likely transitional freshwater or brackish marsh area, the “ditch” a functioning creek.