Two added treats this year were raffle prizes… which both kids and adults seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

We had a special guest appearance of Backwards Beekeepers, a non-profit dedicated to bees, and their live bee display complete with bee outfit and paraphernalia was most captivating to our volunteers, who came to learn about the bees in between restoration activities.

Kathy Castillo (below, on the left) and Linda Hernandez (on the right) symbolically deposited a tiny bit of styrofoam into a trash bag during the Creek cleanup. The comments we get every year is, “where does all this Styrofoam come from, and how does it break up into all these small pieces.”

Kathy Castillo, graduated from Civitas School of Leadership High School, and is currently attending Cal State LA. Kathy has been with the Urban Science Corps, a non-profit that the Friends and LMU partners with, for 5 years since she was a freshman in high school, and she is interested in studying urban sociology.

Linda Hernandez, a senior at Civitas School of Leadership High School, is interested in studying immigration law and environmental justice. They are repeat volunteers, always willing to participate on our cleanups and are currently preparing for summer employment as community scientists with with Urban Science Corps, a project of the Youth Science Center in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recretion & Parks, which will take them back to the Ballona Wetlands to coach new students in training.

Our next big event for the public won’t be until the fall, for Heal the Bay’s Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 22, but you can join us anytime between now and then on the third Saturday of the month for monthly Habitat Restoration Days – click here to download our quarterly calendar of events.

Our only regret is that we could not participate with all our partners throughout the watershed during their Earth Day Celebrations, but we did our best to get the word out to our constituents. Wow, has Earth Day changed from years ago – we think that the whole month of April should really be called Earth Month, since it seemed like every other day there was something great going on.

I guess it’s a good sign – shows how much we love our Earth! Click here to enjoy more Earth Day photos on our Flickr page.

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Or you can join our great friends at Ballona Creek Renaissance at an event co-sponsored by CA Assemblymembers Holly Mitchell (AD47), Stephen Bradford (AD51), and Betsy Butler (AD53) taking place at the nearby Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.  Flier below, RSVP to baldwinhillsrestoration@yahoo.com.

To all our amazing friends and supporters – we wish you a Happy Earth Day, Week, Month, and Year!

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Friends of Ballona Wetlands cordially invites you to join us in honoring Enrique C. Zaldivar, Director of L.A. Sanitation, City of Los Angeles, on April 26th, 2012 in Downtown Los Angeles at our third annual Ballona Watershed Warrior Celebration. Those who have attended previous Watershed Warrior events know this is an evening you do not want to miss!

All the information you’ll need on attending and sponsoring this event can be found at www.bwwc2012.org.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

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Join us on Saturday, April 21st from 9:00am to 12:00pm for the Friends of Ballona Wetlands annual Earth Day celebration. All are welcome, but groups of 5 or more should register by sending an email to info@ballonafriends.org with your estimated number of participants.

To download map & directions click here, and to download the flier click here.

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Newly planted vegetation at South L.A. Wetlands Park | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Helpful new signage | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

“It was like déjà vu for me,” said Friends’ Executive Director Lisa Fimiani. Back in 2003 the Ballona Freshwater Marsh looked so similar, with small wetlands plants ready to take hold and root. “Once I saw that Psomas engineering was involved in the project I knew it was done right. Psomas engineered the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, which has successfully withstood “50 and 100 year flood storm conditions”, a requirement for reconstructed marshes – especially in dense urban settings. “You can’t have the local streets wash over with a rise in stormwater during a large seasonal rain event, so if you are going to design a wetlands park to funnel stormwater into a creek, river or tributary, you want to make sure that’s where it ends up – but not before being cleansed by native wetland plants,” Fimiani went on to say.

South L.A. Wetlands Park: Before and after | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Newly planted areas in SLA Park show striking similarities to...

The Ballona Freshwater Marsh - Seven Years After Planting | Photos by Lisa Fimiani

Ballona Freshwater Marsh in 2002 (click to enlarge) | Photo by Edith Read

Ballona Freshwater Marsh in 2010 | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

The nine acre South Los Angeles Wetlands Park will improve the water quality of stormwater destined for the Los Angeles River that will be flowing into it from 600 acres of surrounding city streets. The 26 acre Ballona Freshwater Marsh is currently cleaning over 1,000 acres of urban space storm runoff from the 500 acre Playa Vista community and an additional 500 acres of businesses along Jefferson Boulevard, before it flows into Ballona Creek. What the Friends, the community of Playa Vista, and surrounding neighbors are realizing is – these reconstructed marshes really work!

“I took what we’ve learned from the Ballona Freshwater Marsh and applied those lessons to the Park,” said Dr. Edith Read of E Read and Associates Inc., who manages the Freshwater Marsh on behalf of the Ballona Wetlands Conservancy. She worked closely with Ecokai Environmental, Inc. and Psomas engineers to design the native wetland vegetation of the Park. “The Park was a real challenge, given its location and issues that were more about aesthetics than wildlife habitat.”

South L.A. Wetlands Park diagram | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Hundreds of well-wishers from local schools, businesses, city and county employees, were there on February 9th to watch Jan Perry cut a blue ribbon standing on one of the walkway bridges over the water.

Councilmember and project champion Jan Perry cuts the blue ribbon | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Mark Gold, former President of Heal the Bay, shared in everyone’s enthusiasm over the city accomplishing the creation of this Park that once was an old rail yard, by saying a few words.

Dr. Richard Shope and Araceli Gonzalez, both of the Youth Science Center, were excited about the science learning opportunities for neighborhood high school students as they prepare for paid summer internships with the Urban Science Corps through the REI-funded WATERS project and the Sempra Energy-funded AIRS project, both research and stewardship efforts in concert with the Friend of Ballona Wetlands. Seven members of the Urban Science Corps were playing in the Jefferson High School Marching Band that provided music for the Grand Opening event. During the summer, they will be leading EcoVoices Expeditions for hundreds of younger students at the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park and other urban recreation centers through the City of Los Angeles.

Araceli Gonzalez, Jan Perry and Dr. Richard Shope | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Dr. Eric Strauss, Presidential Professor at Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Urban Resilience was not able to attend but said,” Wetland systems such as these are critically important to the health of urban neighborhoods. They provide so many, many services to the community – from absorbing floodwaters and cleaning the air, to connecting stakeholders to nature and providing a welcome oasis in the middle of a city. Los Angeles should be proud of this great effort to restore some of what was once one of the Nation’s great wetlands. Congratulations to Jan Perry and her team for the vision and perseverance to complete this project.”

April Sandifer, with Dr. Eric Strauss and Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Urban Resilience, was thrilled to see there was now a new Park in the upper watershed of Ballona – in her hood. “The park I feel helps disprove the belief that African Americans don’t care about the environment. This will directly affect the health of the neighborhood in which I grew up and where my family continues to live. This is a huge triumph for South Los Angeles.”

Jan Perry and April Sandifer | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Rhonda Ford Webb, Director and Founder of LEAPS ACTION CENTER, a youth environmental stewardship program in Compton, also enjoyed the success achieved by the creation of this Park, saying, “The success of this project allows us (members of the Compton Creek Task Force) to imagine the possibilities of restoring the earthen bottom portion of the Compton Creek and to continue to working toward bringing this same “green haven” to those who live, work and play in the Compton Creek.”

April Sandifer and Rhonda Ford Webb | Photo by Lisa Fimiani

Funding was from Prop O, the BOS collections system Settlement Agreement 9SEP0, Prop 50, Prop 12, Prop 40, Prop K, MTA and the US EPA Brownfields Grant. The project was undertaken in connection with the settlement of two Clean Water Act enforcement actions, Santa Monica Baykeeper vs. City of Los Angeles and United States and State of California ex. Rel. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region vs. City of Los Angeles.

The Friends are so happy to celebrate this new Park with Jan Perry, and have offered any assistance they might be able to give with their experience in the baseline monitoring and informal science programs that could potentially be offered and expanded upon by local community groups, schools and institutions.

Click here to see more photos at our Flickr page!

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Photos by Jen May (jennmay@me.com).

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One of the most important and fulfilling aspects of our work as stewards at the Ballona Wetlands is the opportunity to work closely with local scouts (both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) to plan, develop and lead service projects here at the Ballona Wetlands. For local Boy Scouts seeking to achieve the level of Eagle Scout through a service project benefiting the environment, Ballona is one of the few open spaces left in Southern California where small restoration projects are possible. In addition to helping restore and maintain the health of Ballona, what’s so great about these projects is the opportunity to get to know all of the scouts, as well as their troops, friends, and families. Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable for Boy Scouts, and we take our role as facilitator with the utmost seriousness and pride.

While Friends of Ballona Wetlands is responsible for bringing over 7,000 folks into Ballona every year through our education and restoration programs, Eagle Scout projects require great thought, preparation, and trust – and the results are often astounding, and the leadership on display humbling. It’s a real pleasure to see the process whereby people gradually form a tight bond with Ballona – after you’ve spent a number of hours walking the trails, observing first-hand the abundance of birds and other wildlife, running your hands through the soil – and contributing to the work of thousands of volunteers to restore Ballona to a more healthy and functional ecosystem after so many years of degradation and neglect.

We’ve recently had two consecutive projects in a particularly neglected corner of the sand dunes. Layers and layers of iceplant covered the whole slope, with a sprinkling of other non-natives throughout, including euphorbia terracina, jade plant, and castor bean. During the first of the two projects, Elliot Storey worked independently to reroute irrigation to the site from a previous restoration area, cleaning and testing all the equipment along the way. Elliot then invited his troop to assist in the heavy duty work: clearing the ice plant by hand and carefully raking and sifting the soil to remove years of ice plant detritus and any seeds that were mixed in. If you’ve never pulled ice plant you wouldn’t believe how heavy the plant is and how hard it can be to successfully clear a patch like the one we tackled.

Here’s what the site looked like before Elliot’s project:

Next, we worked with Brennan Balson to design a new native plant garden, carefully choosing the plant palette from species native to Ballona and already found in the reserve. Over fifty plants were purchased from Theodore Payne Society and from SEA Lab, consisting of deerweed (lotus), bladderpod, dune buckwheat, and encelia. His troop worked hard to get the plants in the ground as quickly as possible, where they are much happier to be than in a plastic container. The rest of the afternoon was spent putting some final touches on the drip line irrigation system and creating a walkway through the middle of the garden to allow for observation and easy maintenance.

Here’s what the site looked like, minus the iceplant and with 50 natives in the ground:

Both Elliot and Brennan showed great leadership through out their projects, organizing the troop and their parents into work teams and making sure everyone was busy working on something through out the day, whether it be weeding, watering, adjusting the driplines, or just pulling ice plant. Most important, both scouts demonstrated a deep respect for Ballona, making sure everyone was being safe and always mindful of the wildlife around us – such as the gorgeous garden spider whose web was nearby. Not only was this particular site transformed from an iceplant-dominated monoculture, almost devoid of bugs and insects, to a young but diverse (and once the plants mature, a thriving and resilient) addition to our other successfully restored areas, but we even had a lot of fun in the process. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get after a warm, sunny day at Ballona spent working to restore the last coastal wetlands in Los Angeles County.

Enjoy the pictures from Brennan’s project below, or click here to see them on our Flickr page here.

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If someone had told me that I’d find all kinds of parallels between the environmental conservation efforts in southern Africa and what we are doing here at the Ballona Wetlands, I’m not sure I would have believed them. But a fifteen day trip to the country of Namibia made me a believer.

My trip started in the capital of Windhoek (pronounced “Vinhoak”), where many of the total population of 2.3 million people live. I was pleased by the signs everywhere encouraging recycling, and found the city to be modern and charming.

Namibia is a land of extremes, and the first leg of our safari took us from the comfort of city accommodations to a quaint guest farm in the Sesriem area at the edge of the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world with some of the tallest sand dunes anywhere, more than 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) above sea level.

Everywhere I looked the scenery was breath-taking: the colors and textures of the sand, the sky, the grasses and the plants. All were were rich and starkly defined in the glow of morning light. I felt grounded, as if I was anchored to the most secure land mass in the world, and truth be told, I was. With an overall area of 49,768 km², the Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world. The most well-known area of the park, where we were, is Sossusvlei, the main visitor attraction in Namibia.

Namibia itself is the fifth largest country in Africa, as large as the states of Texas and Louisiana combined. Mining of diamonds and semi-precious stones, uranium, fishing, agriculture (livestock and meat products and crop farming), and tourism are the four top industries, in that order, with tourism steadily on the rise. Why? Because the land is so incredibly beautiful. and the Namibian government seems to have realized its greatest asset for long term profitability. I was struck by how many game farms we passed, most of which were turned into tourist destinations, where the only thing pointing at a lion or elephant or zebra would be the lens of a camera.

There were still the others, however – game reserves that had tall fences all around, much taller than the open reserves designated as park land, where hunters paid a steep price for the privilege of killing wild animals. Canned hunts, they were neither condoned nor encouraged by the government, merely tolerated. For the most part, even with the ever-present poaching threats of the largest concentration of Black Rhino in the world, and the other spectacular “big five” game animals (lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo), Namibia treats its wildlife like the assets I hoped they would – a surprise to this fresh and naïve tourist from the states visiting the continent of Africa for the first time.

While watching herds of springbok and wildebeest, I thought of the annihilation of the American Buffalo in our country, brought to the edge of extinction without half the care and concern I found evident in Namibia over it’s precious animals, most of which roam freely over and through the country during migration. Not to say there were not issues.

My greatest lesson in conservation was visiting the Cheetah Conservation Fund headquarters outside of Otjiwarongo, 100,000 acres of property run by the non-profit organization as part of the Waterberg Nature Conservancy. I learned about the collaboration with local farmers, who were willing to try using specially trained Anatolian shepherd dogs to guard their cattle, goats and sheep, which would offer the balance necessary for wild cheetahs to live and thrive, feeding on wild game while sharing the same land with the farmers. Of course we found all this out later, but the first thing we saw as we approached the compound were four “ambassadors”, cheetah cubs, being led on a leash for their afternoon walk. One of the walkers turned out to be the organization’s founder, Dr. Laurie Marker.

Nothing prepares you for this of course! How often does one see a cheetah, up close, calmly looking at you? We were invited in to sit with the cheetahs as they smelled us and licked our hands, all the while purring so loudly that we couldn’t help but laugh – partly out of nervousness, which soon subsided as we realized these overgrown cats pose no threat and are feeling right at home among us humans.

Of course this is not the norm! The majority of the cheetahs housed by CCF are being rehabilitated to go back out in the wild, to populate areas where there are too few cheetahs. These four were found when their mother was killed, there was no chance of them being able to make it in the wild on their own. One of the greatest teaching tools Laurie Marker has is the role a captive cheetah plays in affecting audiences with their charm and unique qualities that are exclusive to the cheetah. No wonder the farmers are willing to find ways to coexist with the cheetahs. Education at CCF involves demystifying the stereotypes of cats in general, cheetahs in particular. CCF is also training locals on making goat cheese, which we sampled in abundance during lunch and dinner, and starting another business making bushbloks out of acacia scrub bush that tends to blind cheetahs with its thorns. This scrub brush becomes too thick when the ecosystem is out of balance from lack of browsing and grazing wild animals for cheetah to prey on.

Here were concepts close to my heart – the intricate connections between wildlife and habitat, the delicate balance that can so easily be thrown off, and what we all can do to help bring it back! For the fastest animal on earth, able to reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour, these sleek cats must be able to run unencumbered through habitat that does not put them physically in peril. I really enjoyed getting to know the staff at CCF, the majority of whom were local Namibians trained to implement these new and creative ideas on restoring balance to the ecosystem.

Go to the CCF website for more fascinating information: http://www.cheetah.org/

Etosha National Park was everything I had heard it was, a watering hole which attracted all kinds of animals, day and night. Since the moment we arrived, I’d been excitedly anticipating seeing my first wild elephant ever. When it happened, it felt time had slowed down, like everything was in slow-motion. We hadn’t even settled into our rooms, which were 20 feet away from the viewing area, when I heard someone say, “Here comes an elephant!”

I stood frozen and watched. Two elephants started walking towards the water hole from seemingly out of nowhere. I raised my camera to take pictures and had to pause to remember to start breathing again. My heart felt like it was swelling and filling up my throat with such admiration and awe, tears welling up in my eyes. Someone said something to me, and I found I could not speak. That was my moment. I felt one with these magnificent creatures. Some of my travel companions called it the “wow” moment. There were still many to come.

Damaraland was almost magical. We visited some of the oldest petroglyphs known to man. The site had been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I was so impressed with the great care our local guides took at instructing us on where to walk and what we could touch and not touch. Almost as incredible as the history of the area was the place we stayed for only one night, regrettably. Camp Kipwe, situated in the heart of the Twyfelfontein Conservancy, was an absolute marvel of architecture, giving one the feeling of being imbedded in rock, invited in by the gecko that greeted us on the side of our unique dome-shaped rooms with an outdoor bathroom and shower. It was pure enchantment.

The last part of the trip was the closest to going on what I imagined to be a true safari, in the oldest sense of the word. We were loaded up into 4×4 safari trucks, quite comfortable by modern standards, and off we went over rocky, hilly terrain that took us through river beds and up steep cliffs. No wonder they had bars to hang onto – this was the best roller-coaster ride I’d ever been on! Again, everywhere you looked the scenery was unbelievable. Our mission one day was to sneak up upon a black rhino and get photos. We soon realized that trying to find a rhino in country that goes on forever, set in the 450,000 hectares (1,700 miles) Palmwag Concession, was going to be like looking for needles in haystacks.

It took great skill and most of one day on the part of our local guides to find where a rhino was, one of only seventeen – ironically, the largest free-ranging population of Black Rhinoceros in Africa. As they say, the thrill of the “hunt” was almost as enjoyable as actually seeing one. Conservation in this camp took on a sense of urgency, since Black Rhinos are so endangered. Go to Wilderness Wildlife Trust and Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) for more information: http://savetherhinotrust.org/

Back in Windhoek, our trip was coming to an end. One of the last adventures we went on happened by chance. We got in to see the local National Museum of Namibia just before closing. There we met one of the Chief Display Officers, Antje Otto, who was delightful, showing us the latest exhibit and telling us about her challenges to keep the museum going. It was there that I saw the exhibit of the Nama rush-huts. So similar to our Tongva Native American “Ki”, except theirs was a traveling home befitting the nomadic life of their tribe, these huts had an uncanny resemblance to a Ki.

Both are made out of lightweight plant material, both made with biodegradable materials, both dome-shaped. It was very interesting to read how they were made. It was fascinating to learn about the different ethnic groups of Namibia, and some of my favorite experiences were with people we met along the way who made our trip so delightful. The Namibian accent was particularly endearing. For example, after I’d thank them for something they would respond by saying, “Pleah-shaah” (pleasure), spoken with a two-tone lilt and a smile that lit up their face from ear to ear.

I came home to Los Angeles with a new appreciation for the country of Namibia, particularly their efforts to conserve their priceless natural resources. It seemed everywhere I went there were programs for local Namibians to get involved in, from water conservation to animal protection. So many of the guides I met spoke of their love for their country. The stunning parade of animals and topographies will certainly last as precious memories throughout my lifetime. I could go on and on, but the following photos will speak for themselves. Needless to say, I was in a birder’s paradise, having identified 128 of the 620 species native to Namibia. My favorite by far is the Crimson-breasted Shrike.

Hopefully these photos will entice you to visit one of the most welcoming countries of the world. I would go back in a heartbeat, after all, there still is the Caprivi Region to see, where water buffalo and hippos roam. Suffice to say, I am content for now with having captured some of the most beautiful creatures on earth. Enjoy!

Click here to see even more photos on our Flickr page.

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