Ruth Lansford gave the following speech at the 5^th Annual Ballona Wetlands Symposium, May 13, 2004  at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She was a presenter on the Vision for a Restored Wetlands panel.    

BALLONA AT THE CROSSROADS:
OPPORTUNITIES AND OBSTACLES
By
Ruth Lansford, President
Friends of Ballona Wetlands

Today, this room is filled with people with an intense interest in the Ballona Wetlands and how to restore them.  That restoration has been the goal of Friends of Ballona Wetlands for over 27 years.  That seems like a long time to us, but when you consider that it took almost 2 centuries to bring Ballona to the edge of destruction, perhaps it’s not so long.

On September 30, 2003, the Wildlife Conservation Board voted to have the State purchase Ballona.  There was a collective sigh of relief, a moment of euphoria, and no end of people willing to take credit for the triumph.  The Ballona Wetlands were saved!  But what seemed the end of a long struggle was, in reality, only the first baby step toward really “saving” Ballona.  Yes, the land and water comprising this irreplaceable habitat would no longer be threatened by development.  But it still faced other dangers: its continuing deterioration because of non-native plant invasions and non-native predators, the ever-present pollution in Ballona Creek, competing community needs that could impact proposed restoration, and soaring costs.

The Friends have a dynamic dune restoration program that has successfully replaced non-natives with long-absent native plants.  The flourishing freshwater marsh has replaced weedy agricultural land.  So to the west and to the east, Ballona is healthier than it’s been for many years.  But that vast salt marsh in the middle and also north of the creek remains untouched and reflects years of neglect.  This symposium is the beginning of a long and difficult road toward what we hope will be successful restoration.  That achievement will depend upon the cooperation of the agencies, the public, and most importantly, the scientific community.

We are entering an era of increased public participation in government.  Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles have been very active and have had some triumphs, such as the recent lowering of the proposed DWP rate hike. Unfortunately, they have also had a great deal of acrimony and dissention.  Larger issues are sometimes submerged in the petty animosities of various factions. 

The wheels of government move slowly, very slowly, and with expanded public participation, the process may be agonizingly slow.  Yet none of us wants the agencies to take the bit in their teeth and rush forward without benefit of the knowledge we all bring from so many years of study at Ballona. 

The Coastal Conservancy has declared its determination to be all-inclusive in its planning process for the wetlands. That’s as it should be.  But with that democratic process comes great responsibility.  That responsibility includes setting aside beliefs in favor of thought.  Ignorance of the sciences can cause a great deal of harm, and the harm that may result from forming an opinion without evidence, or from distorting evidence to support an opinion, is incalculable.  The democratic process can lead to either chaos or creativity.  It’s up to us to make that choice.

The Friends envision a regional green corridor extending from the Baldwin Hills to the Santa Monica Bay.  We see a connection from Area B through to an unpolluted creek and on into Area A which would be reconnected to the bay and perhaps even connected to the Venice Canals, with a circulating water system invigorating all of it.  We see the completed riparian corridor cleansing waters as they course toward the freshwater marsh, where they will be cleansed further, and then to the salt marsh and Santa Monica Bay.  We see new estuaries meandering through the wetland, perhaps fish habitat in deeper water in some areas, more habitat for the endangered Beldings’ Savannah sparrow, opportunities for enticing other endangered and threatened species, and also public educational and research facilities east of Lincoln at the planned Discover Ballona center and at the LMU BOLD project.  The Friends believe it is essential that all restoration design maintain the maximum amount of flexibility because we have seen how much the ecosystem at Ballona varies and how subtle those variations can be.

The vision I’ve outlined won’t be cheap.  Consider the freshwater marsh.  It has been astoundingly successful in a very short period of time.  It is subject to stringent regulations that require the landowner to ensure that it provides habitat superior to what existed before, to maintain that habitat in perpetuity, and, should it not prove compatible with the restored salt marsh, to redesign it until it is.  The price?  $18 million.  That’s exclusive of the cost of monitoring and maintenance.

How much money is there to restore the salt marsh?  Right now, not much.  We’ve often been assured that the Port of Los Angeles will come to our rescue.  Perhaps they will.  But will they bring restrictions with their dollars that may not be the best for Ballona? 

Right now, the Trust for Public Land is in charge of keeping up the maintenance at the wetlands, as Playa Vista used to do.  They have a limited budget for that task.  Fish & Game controls Ballona, but the budget crisis has made it nearly impossible for them to fulfill their duties in the vast area where they have jurisdiction.

Since Ballona was bought by the State some people seem to think that means free access for all.  People walk their dogs (many not on leashes), they dump their unwanted cats, their aquarium fish, their worn sofas, their trash, and they romp through sensitive areas unimpeded.  There is simply not enough security to prevent all this, although the Friends, the Audubon Society and the Foundation, who have a State issued license for their dune program and tours, do their best to assist.  I should say that, when informed that they are entering sensitive habitat, most people apologize and leave.  Some refuse and not always politely.  Some think they’re helping the wetland by uprooting plants, not always the right ones, and not always in the right way.

Recently, all of the informational signs required by our grant from the Coastal Conservancy have been stolen, other signs trashed and tossed into the creek, windows broken at the restoration center, binoculars stolen.  In addition, tour groups (children and adults) and restoration workers have been harassed, children on tours photographed without their parents’ permission, and docents verbally assaulted.  These actions are not conducive to creating a cooperative atmosphere in which we can all work together toward a common goal – the goal that should be paramount in our minds: the best interests of the Ballona Wetlands.

Hostility and aggressive behavior, dogma instead of science, can only lead to delay and failure and, I might add, is counter-productive because eventually it will lead to the marginalization of the perpetrators.  And bad science will be easily recognizable by the real scientists among us. Unfortunately, much of the general public and even the media won’t be able to tell the difference, creating unnecessary controversy and delaying the process even more.

But perhaps I’m wrong and all will go well.  Perhaps we can enter the next phase with a devotion to Ballona, not our own superheated agendas.  I put my trust in the Constitution and objective scientific inquiry.  The Constitution gives us the freedom of speech we exercise here today and allows us to participate in this process.

Let us not abuse that right.

Objective scientific inquiry will allow us to be successful in our quest to restore and protect the Ballona Wetlands.         

 Let us respect it.

 It’s time to do this right.

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