Alliance Environmental High Kayaks the Los Angeles River

The Los Angeles River has been a great resource for over a thousand years starting with the Tongva people who used the river in sustainable way.

A few years ago, few people visited the river, with the unappealing title of a “flood control channel,” very few even knew that it was once an un-cemented, soft-bottom river that could not be tamed as it diverted paths more than a dozen times.

The Los Angeles River was channelized after the Flood Control Act of 1936 gave the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the funds to make it a flood control channel.

Along the 51 miles of the Los Angeles River remain four soft-bottom stretches, and Glendale Narrows, Alliance Environmental Science and Technology’s (ESAT) backyard is among the lucky four.

The Glendale Narrows is a great place for people to learn and explore urban ecology, with dozen of different resident and migrating birds, trees, shrubs and invertebrates, it is a teacher’s dream for an outdoor classroom.

ESAT students walk this river often, as many of them live along the river yet know very little about its biodiversity.

As a school, ESAT wants to make students aware of the amazing biodiversity that exists in our backyards. You don’t need to travel far to experience nature, nature really does work everywhere.

Thanks to LA River Kayak Safari and The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority our students got the opportunity to get inside the river, see the carp swim along the river, touch the Arundo and have a great discussion about invasive species as well as talk about the many restoration projects.

If you haven’t kayaked the river make sure to book a trip before the season closes on Sept. 1. otherwise you can catch the next recreation season after Memorial Day.

http://www.lariverkayaksafari.org/

http://www.lariverrecreation.org/LA_River_Recreation/home.html