Home Announcements January 16 Annual Business Meeting and General Membership Program

January 16 Annual Business Meeting and General Membership Program

HISTORICAL ECOLOGY AND THE BALLONA WATERSHED   

When you bike or walk along Ballona Creek you see a concrete-lined flood control channel. Once you go under the Marina Freeway overpass on the bike path you see fields that are called wetlands, but they don’t look very wet at all.

Artist rendering of Los Angeles Basin, c. 1850. (Southern California Coastal Water Research Project)

But Ballona Creek was once a picturesque natural waterway fed by runoff from swamps and rainwater, lined with sycamores and willow trees that ended at Ballona Lagoon, a freshwater marsh with ponds, vernal pools, and wet meadows. The Lagoon actually extended from the base of the Westchester bluffs in the south all the way to the intersection of Main St. and Abbot Kinney to the north, and as far east as Overland Blvd. During rainy seasons Ballona Swamp covered all of the low-lying land from Culver City to Inglewood Mesa, about ten square miles.

Dr. Eric Stein of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) will bring us back to the days before West Los Angeles covered up and redirected its natural waterways, bringing us what is sure to be a fascinating look at the flora and fauna of what was.

We’ll also take a look at the City of Culver City’s Ballona Creek Revitalization Project, which seeks to enhance habitats, open space, and landscaped areas.

 

Historical Society members and the general public are invited to enjoy this free program on January 16th at 7 P.M. in the Multipurpose Room at Veterans Memorial Building, located at 4117 Overland Avenue. The entrance to both the ARC and Multipurpose Room is through the back of the building and open to the public.

The Historical Society Archives & Resource Center (ARC) will be open for you to come and see our latest exhibits.

 

About Eric D. Stein, D.Env.: Dr. Eric Stein is a principal scientist at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP), where he is head of the Biology Department. Dr. Stein oversees a variety of projects related to in-stream and coastal water quality, bioassessment, hydromodification and environmental flows, watershed modeling, and assessment of wetlands and other aquatic resources. His research focuses on effects of human activities on the condition of aquatic ecosystems, and on developing tools to better assess and manage those effects. Dr. Stein has authored and co-authored over 100 journal articles and technical reports and participates on numerous technical workgroups and committees related to water quality and aquatic resource assessment and management. Prior to joining SCCWRP in 2002, Dr. Stein spent six years as a Senior Project Manager with the Regulatory Branch of the Los Angeles District Corps of Engineers, and four years with a private consulting firm.

About the SCCWRP: The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) is a leading U.S. environmental research institute that works to develop a scientific foundation for informed water-quality management in Southern California and beyond. Since its founding as a public agency in 1969, SCCWRP has been a champion of sound interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex challenges in water management. The agency investigates not only how to more effectively monitor and protect Southern California’s ocean and coastal watersheds, but also how to bridge the gap between water-quality research and the management community that relies on this science.

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