How did the native peoples of Ballona utilize the plants in the area?
- The Arroyo Willow was used by the Tongva for relieving pain, much like aspirin is used today.
- Sagebrush leaves were once brewed by the Tongva to help ease childbirth.
- The Tongva used Sea-Blite as flour as well as a dye for basketry.
Board of Directors
Catherine Tyrrell (President) is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP (accredited professional). Ms. Tyrrell has extensive knowledge of California's water quality regulations, stormwater management activities and watershed management approaches.
She has been the assistant executive officer for surface water programs with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Among other activities, she led the effort with the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate health and water quality monitoring statewide.
She was also the executive director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project -- one of the first watershed projects in Southern California with a surface water quality focus.
Prior to joining her present firm, Malcolm Pirnie, she worked for the engineering firm, Psomas. Before that, she was director of coastal and environmental affairs for Playa Vista, where she created a conservancy to oversee operations, monitoring and maintenance of the master-planned community's freshwater marsh system. She also oversaw development and implementation of the freshwater marsh operations and maintenance manual. In addition, Ms. Tyrrell was responsible for coastal permitting for transportation and restoration projects within the coastal zone.
Ms. Tyrrell holds a master's degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a past board member of the Ballona Wetlands Foundation and the past president of the Ballona Wetlands Conservancy. Tyrrell and her husband, who have three grown children, moved to Playa Vista in March of 2006.
Dr. David Kay (Vice President) joined the Friends’ Board in March 08. He pursued a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering at UCLA, which he received in 1988. Since 1984, at the Environmental Affairs Division of Southern California Edison, Dr. Kay has managed or contributed to a variety of projects under the umbrella of regulatory compliance with state and federal clean water and hazardous waste laws.
Beginning in 1999 Dr. Kay managed the environmental mitigation projects required by the California Coastal Commission for Edison’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. These projects include restoration of 150 acres of degraded wetlands at San Dieguito Lagoon near Del Mar, CA., construction of a 150-acre artificial kelp reef offshore from San Clemente, and funding for the Hubbs-Sea World fish hatchery in Carlsbad, CA. In 2006, Dr. Kay’s organization was expanded to manage environmental siting and licensing for all SCE generation and transmission projects, as well as environmental oversight of all operation and maintenance work in the Company. Dr. Kay and his wife Marla live in Playa Vista, CA.
Jacob Lipa (Secretary, immediate past President) is the president of Psomas, a consulting engineering firm serving public and private clients throughout the western United States. The firm specializes in the land development, water/wastewater, and transportation markets.
Mr. Lipa was a natural choice to lead the Friends, an organization dedicated to protecting the environment. Under his presidency the organization has gone to a unique dual-Executive Directorship, has expanded public outreach, inaugurated a new website, and expanded the Friends Board of Directors with active, giving members.
Meanwhile, his firm (he became Psomas president in 2002) has established a reputation in the front lines of sustainable engineering with a number of LEED-rated projects. Since 2002, the firm has more than doubled in size, has entered several new markets and expanded throughout the West. He is in charge of all day-to-day operations of the 700-employee firm.
Prior to assuming his current position, Lipa was principal-in-charge of Psomas’ land development services. He has more than three decades experience providing civil engineering services and managing large-scale projects in the United States, including Playa Vista, the location of the Ballona Wetlands.
John Gregory (Treasurer) is an accountant at Sony Pictures Entertainment, and brings to the FBW board thirty years of accounting and finance experience in the entertainment and aerospace industries and in public accounting, where he received his CPA certificate.
At Sony Pictures, he has long been active in LINKS, the company's employee volunteer program, participating in a variety of environmental community service projects such as tree plantings with TreePeople. Mr. Gregory is also on the LINKS Steering Committee, which contributes to the selection, organization, preparation and leadership of the volunteer events.
He was introduced to the Ballona Wetlands and the Friends' mission to champion the restoration and protection of the wetlands through the annual Sony Global Volunteer Day in 2008.
A New Jersey native, Mr. Gregory has fond memories of the marshlands along the Jersey shore, and has long appreciated the wisdom and importance of protecting nature's delicate ecosystems. Accordingly, he became more involved with the Friends, and joined the board in March 2009. Mr. Gregory and his wife Kathy reside in nearby Westchester.
Ruth Lansford (Founder) was raised in Long Island, New York where she lived next to wetlands. She moved to Playa del Rey in the early 1960’s where she found she was once more neighbor to a wetland. After heirs of Howard Hughes’ estate announced development plans in the wetlands, Ms. Lansford formed the Friends of Ballona Wetlands in 1978. The Friends fought the proposed development but the California Coastal Commission approved it.
Then, in 1984 the Friends, led by a determined Ms. Lansford, filed suit. After more than 6 years in litigation and negotiation, a settlement was reached with the subsequent landowner, (Maguire Thomas) which preserved 340 acres of wetland and surrounding habitat.
The Friends continued to push for more acreage to be saved, and in 2003 the State purchased the remaining Ballona acres west of Lincoln from Playa Vista.
Dr. Pippa Drennan grew up in South Africa and earned her PhD from University of KwaZulu-Natal with a specialty in mangrove/estuarine biology. She is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University and teaches plant biology and ecology, frequently involving her LMU students in special projects at Ballona Wetlands. She has served as a botany consultant for the Friends for the past six years and Board Member since 2001. Dr. Drennan also enjoys nature photography and she and her family travel worldwide.
Lisa Fimiani became an avid bird-watcher while growing up in Buffalo, New York. In 1986 she moved to Los Angeles, where she joined the Domestic Television Sales division of Paramount Pictures. In her last position at Paramount she served as vice president of Sales Administration and Program Lineups, and after 18 years with the company recently left to form her own consulting firm.
She has been a member of the National Audubon Society since living in Buffalo. In June of 2006 Ms. Fimiani stepped down after serving 6 years on the Audubon California Board, and joined the Board of the Los Angeles Audubon Society chapter as treasurer. A Docent at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh since it was formed in 2003, Ms. Fimiani joined the Friends’ Board in 2005. She created a native plant design company in 2007.
Susan Gottlieb joined the Friends’ Board in August 07 as an expression of her passionate support for the organization’s work at Ballona restoring the dunes where native plants are an essential component to support migrant and resident birds. Ms. Gottlieb partners with her husband, Dan Gottlieb, in an array of projects that support wildlife. Their own native plant garden has been showcased on Huell Howser’s show, California’s Green and is featured on the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour since its inception in 2003.
Susan and Dan Gottlieb opened their G2 Gallery on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, CA, March 2008. The mission of G2 Gallery is accomplished by showcasing photographic images of our natural environment by today’s most gifted artists and partnering with conservation and educational organizations. In keeping with the Mission of the Gallery, some of the proceeds are donated to the Friends.
Dr. Edith Read is the President of E. Read and Associates, a company that she formed in 2007 to streamline management of the Ballona Freshwater Marsh and support her consulting work surveying rare plants throughout Southern California and Western Arizona. Dr. Read earned a PhD in Biology from UC Irvine, specializing in Plant Ecology. She began her work at Ballona in 1991 with water studies relating to water availability and plant need while employed at Psomas. Subsequently, she studied plant populations throughout Ballona.
Center for Natural Lands Management hired Dr. Read as the first Marsh Preserve Manager in 2003 prior to the opening of the Marsh and the Marsh flourishes under her care. Dr. Read oversees water monitoring, community relations, planting, wildlife monitoring and an array of other tasks. She has fondly become known to the community as the Marsh Mistress.
She has been involved with the Friends as an advisor regarding dunes restoration and in August 2007 became a member of the Board. With projects in Eastern Sierra Nevada and Southern California, another long-term area of expertise is monitoring impacts of stream diversion on habitat. Social Justice and providing “living wages” are values Dr. Read expresses through her company.
Bob Shanman was elected to the Friends’ Board in 1997. His involvement with the Ballona Wetlands goes back to 1977 when he first took up bird watching. In 1980, he began leading walks at Ballona Creek for Los Angeles Audubon. Mr. Shanman was directly responsible for involving the National Audubon Society at the Ballona Wetlands.
Beyond his Friends Board service, he continues to lead monthly Audubon bird walks, is involved with several school programs, and helps fundraise for South Bay Wildlife Rehab. In 1995, Mr. Shanman opened Wild Birds Unlimited in Torrance, CA, which is part of a national franchise. He is a registered Civil and Geotechnical Engineer in California.
Michael Swimmer joined the Friends Board in July of 2006. A registered Landscape Architect (ASLA) in Los Angeles since 1976; Mr. Swimmer graduated Cal Poly Pomona in 1970, with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture; receiving his Masters Degree in 1988 from UCLA in Architecture and Urban Planning, specializing in Energy Conserving Design. He started his own "design-build" office in 1973, after 2 years apprentice work in Landscape Architecture.
Mr. Swimmer is the winner of seven major Design Awards, including First Place Award in California for the Disneyland Hotel in 1977. The scope of his projects includes: Master Plan for 17 acre camp in Idyllwild; Master Plan for Solstice Canyon, California, Mountains & Recreation Conservancy; protection of 50 acre wetland, Mammoth Lakes; many hotel and shopping center projects, including Century City Shopping Center in 1989; and many large and small residential projects through out the Los Angeles area and in Idaho, Michigan, and Arizona.
Mr. Swimmer consulted for the Friends with Mary Thomson, former volunteer director of restoration, in the 1980’s, and has been a life long admirer of the Ballona Wetlands, kayaking Marina del Rey harbor and the Ballona channel.
Richard Wegman, who joined the board in January 2010, is a long-time environmental and social justice activist who has worked for a wide variety of organizations and causes, with an open soul and a rock and roll heart.
Mr. Wegman is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Global Green, the USA division of the organization known internationally as Green Cross. He is responsible for the management of Global Green USA's finances and administration.
Mr. Wegman has been helping to lead environmental companies since the late 1980s, when, for example, he served for 8 years as the CFO of PS Enterprises, a Santa Monica-based environmental public relations and policy firm that worked with numerous cities, agencies, and non-profits.
Following his service at PS Enterprises, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Tree People, the local community environmental non-profit that is helping restore the greater Los Angeles watershed.
Prior to Global Green USA, he served as a consultant (both paid and pro bono) to many environmental and social justice organizations in the Los Angeles area including El Rescate, Clinica Oscar A. Romero, Committee to Save Mono Lake, Coalition for Clean Air, Plaza Community Center in East Los Angeles, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Audubon Society.
Mr. Wegman is Chairman of the Board for Amazon Watch, an organization that works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. He is also co-founder of ActiveMusic Inc, a non-profit that produces benefit concerts to raise money for other non-profit organizations. He holds an MBA in Finance and a BS in Marketing from California State Polytechnic University. In addition he is a certified Yoga teacher and Reiki healer.
Emeritus Board of Directors
Tim Rudnick has been a member of the Friends since its inception in 1978, and served as a Board Member for over 15 years. A Venice activist and marine naturalist, Mr. Rudnick’s interest and expertise lie in the connection between the wetland ecosystem and the ocean. He has played an integral role in educating local residents about the importance of preserving Ballona. Mr. Rudnick also takes students on boat trips and teaches them about marine ecology through the Venice Oceanarium, which he founded.
Ed Tarvyd has been a member of the Friends’ Board of Directors since the organization’s inception in 1978. A seasoned marine biologist, Mr. Tarvyd has been a professor at Santa Monica College for over 40 years. As a member of a UN organization, CITES, (Convention in International Trade of Endangered Species), he helps determine what is endangered on a worldwide level. Mr. Tarvyd has traveled extensively throughout the world including Tahiti, Africa, Oman, and most recently, the Galapagos Islands, leading research trips and teaching about these unique ecosystems. He is also one of the premiere experts on coral reef ecosystems in French Polynesia.