Ballona Wetlands: Westchester
by Pasadena Adjacent
This small 700 acre parcel of land is what remains of the Ballona Wetlands and the last remaining wetlands in the city of Los Angeles. Back in the 1930′s Ballona Creek was placed in a concrete channel. This disruption threw things out of balance greatly reducing the size of the wetlands. The newly open space gave way to farmland which in turn gave way to Howard Hughs and the aviation industry. Westchester was born. Developers and environmentalist have fought tooth and nail over the remaining open space. Notice the McMansions? Notice Mr Spielberg?
L E A V E T H E L A N D A L O N E artist Bruce Nauman (me too)
The Ballona Wetlands are part of the Pacific Flyway. A major north-south route of travel for migratory birds in the Americas, extending from Alaska to Patagonia.
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In need of more links?
http://www.ballonafriends.org/birds.html
Such a pretty place. I hope it can stay wetlands.
My favorite part of L.A. All the mediated spaces, street grids on mountains, rivers in concrete.
Fascinating & beautiful …place I’ve never heard about before… another must-visit-location. I noticed the Electronic Arts building as I drove home from Santa Monica last week. I like that particular one…maybe because I like the games Electronic Arts makes – I just see them being played, I don’t need another compulsion…(funny about Mr. V, photos & your blog…)
And Job Control Language was like an operating system instructions that preceeded a computer execution – things like grab this program, grab this file, here comes the input data…it was just something that was peripheral to the engineering task.
The last remaining… I didn’t know that. And I didn’t know hummingbirds used spiderwebs to build their nests. I’ll be more careful about my webs from now on. Though I’ve never wantonly destroyed spiderwebs, sometimes I walk face-first into them in the backyard early morning.
There are only 600 acres that were preserved by the State of California. There is 100 acres still in question, sandwiched between Playa Vista’s Phase 1′s two components. A hearing a Loyola this afternoon may determine the ultimate outcome of that 100 acres. There are a couple of hundred acres of wetlands owned by the City of Los Angeles and the County. And a few private parcels surrounding the preserved areas which are threatened with development. Plus, the Army Corps of Engineers and a couple of other agencies now want to dredge and “re-contour” the entire area that was “preserved” – ignoring the wildlife that is thriving in an equilibrium there. The work of saving Ballona is not done.
http://www.ballonainstitute.org/
McMansions? They look more like apartment buildings. I love the wetlands! Save the wetlands! Where I live they have built up to the edges of all of our wetlands. The farm land that is cultivated next to our wetlands seem to be a good buffer, but the farms seem to be slowly disappearing–replaced by housing tracks.
I hope the meager remaining 600 acres can survive because it sounds like the other 100 are on their way out. Wetlands possess the ability to scour out many pollutants and have untold environmental benefits. They need to be saved at all cost. Either that or just cement over the whole damn planet. What awful looking houses–or apartments–including the fabulous walled-off hillsides. They must have a nice view. I can imagine children playing and rolling out of control down the hill only to become wedged into that tight angle at the bottom of the yard where the fence and slope meet.
http://www.ballonainstitute.org/restoration.html
Did you look at the In the Shadow of LAX – really nicely done brouchure. Little photo of a new fire station is on p. 54.
Neat shot on p. 45 of Lincoln Blvd. streetscape. Reminiscent of Sunset Strip photos.
SAVE BALLONA. Now we must Save it from those who would go in and Bulldoze to create ‘their vision’ of what they think it needs to be (and line their pockets in the process) and disrupt the ecosystem that is There and Thriving. Come help truly Restore (by hand!) a part of the historical wetlands at the Grand Canal and Wash Blvd. every Sunday and Monday starting Oct 18th through at least mid-November. We have 10,000 plants to get into the ground (all grown from seeds and cuttings taken directly from the wetlands) a true native restoration.
Hello, I forgot to add go to our facebook page at ‘ballona institute’ to get more info. Thanks!
http://ballonainstitute.org/
I was not aware of these wetlands at all. Thanks for the post. Not exactly Walden Pond, but definitely to be left alone.
Oh darling…. it gets so complicated.
That could be an interesting thing to do. Join in with the other weekend planters. Power to the people!
It’s amazing to find out there’s such a place. Eggcellent reporting from The Adjacents.
Hello, Pasdena Adjacent! Thanks for commenting on my poem. Trust me, all of us in the sisterhood need… and appreciate… all the “diving birds” we can get.
The marsh silence, the full moon, the various birds that change with the seasons are treasures of the Ballona Wetlands. It deserves our care.
I always consider white birds as symbol of peace
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Lola Terrell and Marsh Lover
It came as a great surprise and pleasure to have visitors directly involved with the future of the wetlands come and visit this posting. Thank you for informing us as to how we can become involved in preserving them. Thanks for the links
Margaret: me too
Linda: And converted palms/pines as cell phone towers? All this time I thought your avitar was of a lemur’s face only to discover it’s a terrier
Tash: Maybe Electronic Arts showed up when it thought Speilberg was going to plant his empire there. (Spielberg didn’t and won’t)
You’ve got to do some exploring around the edges of the air port. There are stories there. Don’t know what they are but if anyone can figure them out you can “Ace Researcher”
AH: I’m glad you caught that reference to the spider webs. Wasn’t that the most poetic thing you’ve come across that wasn’t put into a poem?
QV: I took photos of one such farm on the way home from San Diego. When they put a McMansion atop a hill it tends to look like an apartment
D: That image of a “poor little rich kid” wedged between a hill and a hard spot gave me quite a laugh. I concur
Shanna: I’ve never been to Waldens pond but this place is very beautiful with a wood chip trail and split rail fencing. There’s a lot of love going into the area from those who care deeply about it. It shows.
Miss H: Yes, so I recently discovered. I guess there won’t be any tea parties between certain members of the blogging community. Too bad. I tried to broker a peace settlement but a certain party was unwilling to wait until I could finish my deadline.
John E: I’ll go with you. Maybe Pat and the boys? Power to the “Peoples” my near do well cat
PJ: Why thank you very much. I left a long comment on “abstraction” that got gobbled up. I’ll have to get back to it but I loved your latest
Yak Pate: Welcome. I’m glad to hear so. A friend of mine whose healing from the sudden death of her husband, told me that you just have to trust in the birds and that they’re there. Just don’t get to pissed with us if we say the wrong thing from time to time
Susan: Welcome and I concur. Thanks for the visit.
Deepak: Have you ever seen a white peacock?