Learning about what LA Used to Look Like

Most people overlook the history behind most things. You may just look at Penmar Golf Course and Penmar Park in Venice, and say that they are just normal recreational areas that just happened to be built there. You may just say that the Lagoon that bisects the "Silver Strand" in the Marina was just a remnant of Abbot Kinney's Canals. However, after closer inspection, one can learn that Penmar Golf Course was built on a vernal pool that would fill with water every winter, and that the "remnant" of the canals is truly a natural lagoon that once part of the ecologically diverse Ballona Wetlands complex, and that it was spared in the development of the Marina filled in nearly all of the wetlands.

A study by the Bay Restoration Foundation and USC has mapped the historical ecology of the Ballona Watershed, and has provided the information in a detailed manner, with images of the ecology superimposed onto google maps. You can find out what once existed where you now live, and what has survived the urban sprawl of Los Angeles over the past 100 years.

You can see the website, that includes historical ecology of the entire Ballona Watershed, superimposed onto google maps by visiting the link:
http://www.ballonahe.org/

LA. Not a desert?

A Gray Hairstreak Butterfly on Black Sage
(Image Property of SoCal Earth Science Blog)

Did you know that much of the highly populated regions of Southern California were not deserts? Deserts exist on the Rain Shadow side of mountains, and receive very little winter rainfall.

Most of the highly populated regions of Southern California were in Coastal Sage Scrub. The habitat lies within the Mediterranean Climate and receives more rainfall than the deserts. Much of it has been lost to development, and many endangered and threatened species live within it (Examples: The California Gnatcatcher and The El Segundo Blue Butterfly).

Plant species that live within Coastal Sage Scrub include California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica), California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), Coast Sunflower (Encelia californica), Black Sage (Salvia mellifera), White Sage (Salvia apiana), Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia), Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and many more.

For more information visit:

http://www.theodorepayne.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page 

http://www.laspilitas.com/comhabit/california_communities.html
Information retrieved from the sites listed above.

The Ballona Wetlands- A History of Tragedy and Success

The original ecology of the Ballona Creek Watershed

The Ballona Wetlands is a 600 acre ecological reserve, located near Playa Del Rey in Los Angeles County. It is the last wetlands in Los Angeles county and once filled the area from Venice to the Westchester Bluffs, but was lost through a century of development.

In the 1920's people in search of oil ravaged the land and polluted it to a point of disaster. In the 1930's the Ballona Creek was channeled and realigned, separating the wetlands from the creek, causing the loss of tidal influence on the habitat.

Ballona Wetland Acquisitions 
Courtesy of the Sierra Club

You would think that the situation could not get any worse, but it did. In the 1960's the construction of Marina Del Rey destroyed over 900 acres of the wetlands, and a majority of the remaining wetlands were filled with dredged soil that was left over from the creation of the harbor.


When Howard Hughes died in 1976 a majority of his land, which included a majority of the wetlands was quickly targeted by developers. The Summa Corporation Playa del Vista Plan, which proposed to develop 1,115 acres of the wetlands and open space, planed to only leave a minuscule 72 acres of wetlands to be restored.

The Ballona Freshwater Marsh with the
Playa Vista Development in the Background
(Image Property of SoCal Earth Science Blog)

When the Summa Corporation sold the development to Maguire Thomas Partners in 1990, the company negotiated with wetland supporters (Friends of the Ballona Wetlands). As a result of negotiations, a significant portion of the wetlands was saved. By 2003, around 600 acres of the wetlands were preserved. To this date, the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands are restoring the degraded wetlands, and The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission has proposed a plan that will reconnect the Ballona Creek with the wetlands through the removal of the concrete levees encasing the creek.

For more information visit:
http://www.ballonafriends.org/