Ballona Wetlands Restoration Committee

We resolve this year to fend off bulldozers promised by the US Army Corps of Engineers, State Coastal Conservancy and CA Dept. of Fish & Game, in partnership with the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission. These organizations may sound like good ones who have done good in some places, but their plans to bring bulldozers back to the coastal zone of Ballona will only destroy an equilibrium of a fragile ecosystem. We advocate the Wildlife-Friendly Alternative for the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, including community-involved restoration, gently undertaken with hand-tools (shovels, trowels, rakes, pruning shears) so that sensitive species are not wiped out in the process and to honor the equilibrium and ecological balance which has come to be in the past 50-70 years.

Agencies' ill-conceived plans have planned would remove essential habitat for species like the Great Blue Heron, nesting on historical marsh areas of Marina del Rey, immediately adjacent to the Ballona Wetlands. Additionally, habitat for the White-tailed Kite, one of California's most rare and protected species, by law, would be erased from the Los Angeles coast.

Other species which would have habitat harmed or eliminated at Ballona under the Army Corps' plans are the Blue Grosbeak, Western Meadowlark, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Burrowing Owl, Northern Harrier, Lewis' Primrose, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Bullock's Oriole, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and the Hooded Oriole. Numerous species of spiders, insects, reptiles, plants and other wetland ecosystem species would either be completely removed from our bioregion or seriously diminshed. Many pollinators, plants and animals that depend on prairie grasslands and seasonal ponds would be eliminated under current proposals. So, you ask, Why? Why would they wipe out species citizens fought so hard to save? Good question. After studying the situation, attending meetings we were allowed to attend and reviewing public records requested through the California Public Records Act, we have come up with an answer: Money. Prestige. Money & Prestige. Sierra Club and others worked hard to put Ballona Wetlands on the radar. Now, it is perceived to be important to have a relationship with the Ballona Wetlands. Scientists at local universities want to be affiliated with projects at Ballona. And there are big-money engineering contracts that a number of companies salivate over. Unfortunately, engineers and planners are making the decisions related to restoration, not ecologists or geographers familiar with the life systems that remain here. We resolve to preserve the 600+ acres at Ballona that we all fought so hard to preserve. Our goal is to transfer Ballona state lands to State Parks and to engage in go-slow community-involved restoration that honors existing ecology. Join our campaign to SAVE BALLONA AGAIN!