Sierra Club Meeting On Ballona Wetlands: Can Consensus Be Reached?

Culver City CA

21 April, 2021

12:48 PM

Description

Culver City Crossroads April 20, 2021 Airport-Marina Group Zoom Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 20th 7-8:30 pm, featuring Margot Griswold with Jonathan Coffin. The topic for discussion will be Ballona Wetlands: Can We Reach Consensus on Inconsistencies and Overlooked Opportunities in the 30% EIR Plan? Margot Griswold, Ph.D. is a restoration ecologist with over 27 years of experience in habitat restoration. Soils, landscape position, and hydrology, coupled with existing and historic vegetation guide her work in restoration. She participated in consensus planning for plant and wildlife habitat within the Habitat Work Group of the Owens Lake Dust Control Project, Inyo County, California. She is past president of the Society for Ecological Restoration California and the Los Angeles Audubon Society. Jonathan Coffin is a naturalist and photographer of exceptional talent. He has dedicated decades to photographing the biodiversity of the Ballona Wetlands and verifying his discoveries with other scientists. He can be found day or night documenting the wildlife (plants and animals) from the edges of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve ("BWER") is an approximate 600-acre open space in the middle of the Los Angeles County coast and halfway along the Santa Monica Bay coastline. It is bordered by the communities of Westchester, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Del Rey and Playa Vista. BWER is a remnant of a what was once a much larger wetland complex that stretched from Venice to the Baldwin Hills that was fed by the Ballona Creek and Los Angeles River. Modification of the wetland complex began approximately 150 years before the first coastal mapping T-Sheets were created for the southern California coast and development cut the acreage of the wetlands. Ballona Flood Control Channel was built through the wetlands in the 1930's and Marina Del Rey was dredged out of the wetlands in the late 1960's. Small remnant streams and rainfall are the primary sources of water for BWER, with muted tidal influence from tide gates at the westerly end of the Ballona Flood Control Channel. A project put forth in the Final EIR (December 28, 2020) by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife proposes to create a full tidal wetland within BWER by removing 2.5 million cubic yards of soil and constructing new flood control levees and berms. Several local environmental groups oppose the plan because of inconsistencies with the historical ecology and trajectory of the wetlands as well as planning to sustain and improve current biodiversity of BWER. Can a meaningful project be achieved through consensus at this stage? The program will show photographic documentation of BWER and offer some insights into achieving more inclusive planning for people, water, soil, plants and animals. For more information contact Kathy Knight 310-613-1175 Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4552... ID: 455 278 8149 Culver City Crossroads is the prime source for news, events, politics, education and culture. they are here to serve the community, create connections, and have fun.