Friends of Ballona Wetlands Haul Trash from Ecological Reserve

Last week, with permission and assistance from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Friends of Ballona Wetlands staff cleaned up garbage from three separate areas of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, just south of Fiji Way.  These areas are not “wetlands” since they were made high and dry when the County dumped millions of yards of fill dirt atop historical wetlands during Marina construction in the 1950-60s.  Now the entire area south of Fiji Way is 14-17 feet above sea level, enabling the public to freely access the area in an unregulated manner.  Naturally, with people comes garbage, and during the decades of delay converting this land back to its pre-Marina wetlands habitat, a heck of a lot of garbage has accumulated among the shrubs and weeds. 

Friends of Ballona Wetlands advocates excavating this area down to wetland elevation (2 feet or lower) and installing well-regulated trails and interpretive facilities throughout the Ecological Reserve.  Various alternatives for accomplishing this will be proposed in the state’s project Environmental Impact Report, presently in preparation and expected to be published for public review and comment late this year.  Friends of Ballona Wetlands are organizing a coalition of volunteer technical experts to perform that review.

Friends of Ballona Wetlands Staff filled half a dumpster with garbage last week with help from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, E Read and Associates, and Carlos Carreon, all of whom provided haul vehicles. The mountains of garbage, which will require several more cleanup days to remove, included bicycle parts from a “chop shop” run by bike thieves.  Venice is a high bike theft area.  Also removed were at least 20 shopping carts to be returned to grocery stores. 

The big surprise was finding a live baby rattlesnake in a discarded bucket. According to Karina Johnston of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, the little guy looks like a Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) - probably one of the Pacific subspecies - the only rattlesnake species seen on site in surveys by Commission biologists thus far.  The Friends staff released the little rascal into the bushes at the end of their daily cleanup effort. Before the fill dirt area south of Fiji Way is excavated and restored to wetlands, small mammals and reptiles may be trapped alive and relocated to other upland habitat nearby.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands! 

www.ballonafriends.com