Study Details Benefits, Impacts of San Gabriel River Discovery Center

BY DON BREMNER

The proposed San Gabriel River Discovery Center at Whittier Narrows passed another milestone in its long journey with the issuance on June 5 of an environmental study analyzing the benefits, as well as the impacts and how to minimize them.

The Draft Environmental Impact Report provides material both for supporters of the planned environmental education center, and opponents who argue that it would damage the environment and belongs somewhere else. At the time of this writing, the Angeles Chapter has taken no position on the Discovery Center.

Overall, the DEIR asserts that each environmental impact can be mitigated to a less than significant level, except greenhouse gas emissions, which would be greater than for the existing Nature Center, largely because of more visitors, employees and deliveries traveling to the new center.

The Discovery Center would replace the old 2,000-square-foot Nature Center, some smaller buildings and 33-space parking lot at 1000 N. Durfee Ave., across the street from South El Monte High School, with an 18,250-square-foot building, two outdoor classrooms, small service buildings, a 29,000-square-foot demonstration wetland and filter for storm runoff, and a 150-space parking area. Construction is anticipated to begin in October 2011.

The new interpretive center is planned to educate the public and K-12 students within a 25-mile radius about the San Gabriel River watershed through indoor exhibits, outdoor interpretive features, and educational programming on the river's geologic setting, natural history, water quality and conservation, human reliance on river resources, flood management, and river restoration.

Located a 10-minute walk from the San Gabriel River, the Center would allow visitors to move easily from Center to river, and let bicyclists using the San Gabriel River bikeway trail, extending from Azusa to Seal Beach, easily stop in and see the educational displays. With no entrance or parking fees, the Center would be financially accessible to the diverse population in the surrounding area. The study notes that the nearest comparable water education facilities are more than 60 miles away.

The project, estimated to cost $27 million, is being managed by the San Gabriel River Discovery Center Authority, consisting of four agencies: the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District; Central Basin Municipal Water District, County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, and San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.

To be built to LEED platinum standards, the Discovery Center building is planned as a model of efficient use of energy and water. It would contain exhibits, classrooms, library, multi-purpose room for group meetings related to watershed education, support space, lobby, administrative space, restrooms and kitchen.

Critics say the project is in the wrong place, is too big, and would cause unacceptable damage to animal and bird habitat.

The 11.3-acre Discovery Center project area, and its 7-acre Construction Impact Zone, are in the Whittier Narrows Natural Area, a 300-acre tract of mostly undeveloped land near the intersection of the 60 and 605 freeways. About 7 acres of the 11.3-acre project area are also on the edge of a 1,585-acre Significant Ecological Area.

Almost all of the land is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and operated by Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, which owns the 0.5-acre site of the old Nature Center building.

Because the project area and surrounding Natural Area were once used for agriculture, they are disturbed land with some exotic plant species and ruderal - weedy vegetation with some trees. About half of the construction impact zone is ruderal land, the DEIR says, with mustard and poison hemlock plants, foraging area for small animals and raptors. And about half of the construction area is landscaped, including lawn in front of the existing Nature Center.

Construction of the Discovery Center would require removal of 27 mature trees, 17 of them native species, plus 29 smaller trees, 10 of them native species. An additional 13 mature trees could suffer root damage or excessive trimming. To compensate, two native trees would be planted for every mature native tree removed, and one native tree would replace each nonnative, for a total of 58 replacement trees.

Construction of the Center would cause a loss of wildlife habitat, but mitigation measures would reduce the loss to an insignificant level and promote eventual restoration of native habitat, the DEIR says.

A Conceptual Restoration Plan in the DEIR's Appendices details how the area would be restored after construction by removing exotic plants -- eucalyptus, black locust, poison hemlock, short pod mustard. Among plants to be added or restored are mule fat, toyon, laurel sumac, coffee berry, and trees such as California walnut, coast live oak, Engelmann oak, Mexican elderberry.

Monitoring would be done for at least five years afterward until authorities are satisfied that all of the new vegetation is thriving or replaced.

To minimize harm to several sensitive bird species, not all of them spotted during surveys of the Center site, a qualified biologist is to conduct a survey before construction starts, and construction will be postponed during nesting season of native birds.

Endangered Least Bell's Vireos were found not far from the project site, the DEIR said, and there should be a qualified survey before any work that could potentially affect their preferred riparian habitat.

The size and location of the proposed new parking lot adjacent to sensitive species habit is a concern, the DEIR stated, and the construction zone appears to intersect an apparent breeding territory of the Yellow Warbler. Otherwise, it added, the proposed project area for the Discovery Center appears to be located on already disturbed habitat, minimizing disturbance to these sensitive species (which generally occur outside the proposed construction impact area).

The proposed project may present the best chance at habitat restoration since the development of the existing Nature Center decades ago, it added, including a significant opportunity to restore and or establish native vegetation within the Proposed Project area, most of which has been highly degraded.

Three smaller alternatives are presented besides the preferred 18,230-square-foot new building. Buildings of 14,000 square feet, 10,000 square feet or 2,800 square feet would have less environmental impact, but less space for environmental education.

Four other locations were considered before the Whittier Narrows site was selected a few years ago. One site across the river and next to the Whittier Narrows Equestrian Center was rejected as poorly situated. The other three were rejected as being too far from the river or the natural area for schoolchildren on brief visits to the Center, or too small.

The environmental reports were prepared by EDAW, Inc., an environmental planning and consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and 33 other cities in the U.S. and abroad, and Cooper Ecological Monitoring, Inc., of Los Angeles, headed by Daniel Cooper, former bird conservation director for Audubon California, and author of Important Bird Areas of California.

The DEIR and Appendices are available online at http://discoverycenterauthority.org/env_doc/env_doc.html. Comments may be submitted until August 3 to San Gabriel Discovery Center Authority, 100 N. Old San Gabriel Canyon Road, Azusa, CA 91702. Contact: Valorie Shatynski, Project Manager

Email: vshatynski@rmc.ca.gov. Phone: (626) 815-1019 ext. 114.