LA River: Ecosystem Feasibility Resoration Study Community Meeting TONIGHT!

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 22, 2013.  Just north of the Confluence, there's a lovely piece of publicly owned open space, that no one can access, sandwiched between the Metrolink rail yard and the LA River.  Seen from the northeast edge of Elysian Park, looking down on the 5 Freeway & Home Depot.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Community Meeting/Public Hearing

LA River Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study*

 

TONIGHT
Thursday, October 17, 2013

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

LA River Center & Gardens

570 W. Ave 26

Los Angeles, CA 90065

(213) 452-3925

Sponsored by the Army Corps of Engineers & City of Los Angeles

 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 24, 2009. Great Blue Heron.

We have not taken a position on Alternative 20, the plan river advocates & politicians are heavily promoting, yet seem short on details.  The Army Corps tentatively selected Alternative 13.  We strongly advise people to attend tonight's meeting and ask a lot of questions.   

*Read the Army Corps' study here.

LA River: Rally For The River, Saturday September 28, 2013

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 9, 2013.  Urban wildlife, like Great Blue Herons, coexist with the 5 Freeway in the LA River.  Of course that green hillside has been approved for 120 condos on the Menlo Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

River advocates & local politicians are rallying behind Alternative 20 to restore the LA River.  However, the Army Corps of Engineers is recommending the far less expensive Alternative 13.  
 

River Rally

Saturday September 28, 2013

10 AM

Marsh Street Park, LA River

2960 Marsh Street

 

Links:

Army Corps of Engineers DRAFT Ecosystem Restoration Study & EIR 

City of Los Angeles: www.lariver.org

Friends of LA River: www.folar.org

 

Deadline for public comment is November 5, 2013.  A series of public meetings will be held in October.  See www.lariver.org for updates on public meetings & more information.



LA River: Ambush Predator

Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 9, 2013.  If you watch the Great Blue Heron hunting in the LA River, you'll notice they stalk slowly through the reeds, craning and curving their neck forward, blending in with the shape of the reeds, standing motionless for quite some time as they await unsuspecting prey. They strike quickly with their sharp beak, eating all fish and small aquatic creatures.  (Click on photo to enlarge)

 

Learn more about Great Blue Heron: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 

The other day we walked from Atwater to the Red Car Property via the LA River.  We're reviewing the stuff we saw along the way.

 

LA River: Blue Heron

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2010. Great Blue Heron and Egrets fish on the banks of the Glendale Narrows on the LA River, between Griffith & Elysian Parks. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Corralitas Drive: Great Blue Heron Sightings

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 27, 2010. Great Blue Heron over Corralitas Dive at 2:42PM. (Clicking on photo won't make it better.)

This afternoon, a Corralitas Drive neighbor emailed me an unusual bird sighting. "I'm no ornithologist but last night approx 7PM, a very large bird flew into the highest point of my cypress tree - and it never came out. It was not the hawk you spoke of but rather some kind of long beaked very wide winged span species. I searched the internet for clues...And I believe I found it." The neighbor included a link to a Wood Stork.

While I wouldn't be surprised if it was a stork, I had not heard of a population of storks on our part of the LA River. I thought it was more likely a Great Blue Heron. I sent the neighbor a few photos from my archives (including the one below). The neighbor immediately identified the bird as a Great Blue Heron.

As if to prove my point, I happened to be walking up the hill an hour later, when a Great Blue Heron flew from the LA River toward Silver Lake Reservoir, directly over Corralitas (photo above). The very large birds tend to nest on the reservoir and hunt on the banks of the river. Since about 2005, Blue Heron flyovers have become commonplace, but no less impressive.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 24, 2009. Great Blue Heron on LA River north of Los Feliz. (Click on photo to enlarge.)