AIRPORT MARINA GROUP (AMG) directly serves the communities of Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, Baldwin Hills, Inglewood, Windsor Hills, and Westchester, but all who wish to may join.
AMG MISSION STATEMENT We fully support the mission of the national Sierra Club, which is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of our natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.
Where we stand on the issues:
We believe that science has demonstrated that Ballona is a predominantly freshwater seasonal wetland. We believe in a gentle restoration of this area, and strongly oppose all efforts to level and re-engineer it.
We believe that the Socal Gas Playa del Rey underground gas storage operations pose a serious immediate and long term risk to our community, and should be closed in a responsible and timely manner.
Official position of the Sierra Club related to the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve proposed "restoration" plans by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Whereas, while more than 90 percent of California’s coastal wetland ecosystems have been destroyed, the type of habitat found at the Ballona Wetlands Reserve is the rarest of our remaining coastal wetlands, 640+ acres on the Los Angeles coast were acquired by the State of California in 2003/2004 for preservation using $140 million, mostly from Wildlife Conservation bond funds, and the ecological reserve is public land dedicated for protection of ecologically sensitive species; and
Whereas, flora and fauna found at the reserve include endangered and imperiled species such as the California Gnatcatcher, White-tailed Kite, California Least Tern, Belding’s Savannah Sparrow, El Segundo Blue Butterfly and the Lewis’ Primrose; some species are year-round residents of Ballona while some bird species migrate from as far away as the Amazon River and Arctic Circle; this ecosystem has abundant flora and fauna, including rare species and a high diversity of pollinators; and
Whereas, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other government agencies are considering plans to significantly alter the reserve; by bulldozing massive amounts of earth that would radically change the current habitat and eliminate or displace current flora and fauna; and remove the current levees that would release polluted water into the fragile ecosystem;
Therefore be it resolved, that the Sierra Club Ballona Wetlands Restoration Committee clarifies that the Club opposes the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s current invasive plans for restoration, and will inform both the Department and all elected officials and other decision-makers about this resolution; and
Therefore be it further resolved, that the Sierra Club Ballona Wetlands Restoration Committee calls for the preservation of the existing habitat and encourages community-engaged restoration for the protection of existing species and following the precautionary principle: "do no harm" i.e. only using hand tools or small equipment for habitat enhancement and restoration, and also for the reintroduction of additional native flora and fauna.
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Resolution passed by Ballona Wetlands Restoration Committee – January 23, 2014 Moved, Cassandra Murrillo; Seconded, Steve Freedman – Unanimous
Also passed unanimously, 2017, by the Executive Committee of Sierra Club Airport Marina Group
[Header photo: Aerial view of Marina Del Rey, on takeoff from LAX near sunset © 2019 Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
