Area High School Students and Residents Get Hands Dirty at Silver Lake Reservoir

Area High School Students and Residents Get Hands Dirty at Silver Lake Reservoir

LOS ANGELES – On Saturday, November 19th, volunteers joined the Silver Lake Reservoir Conservancy (SLRC) for their Armstrong Avenue autumn planting and landscaping event. SLRC, founded in 1988, is the longest running advocacy organization for the reservoirs and adjacent properties.

One of SLRC’s projects included turning the forgotten dirt slope on Armstrong Avenue into a drought-tolerant garden, landscaped with California native plants. SLRC started replanting the slope in 2015, does regular seasonal plantings and year-round maintenance, watering and cleanups.

Student Volunteers

This past weekend, SLRC was joined by students from the Alliance Environmental Science and Technology High School (ESAT), a neighborhood school committed to helping students understand their impact and influence on the community and environment. The group of sophomore volunteers was helping the planting effort as part of a class they are taking on environmental science. “We’re learning a lot about plants and how they affect the environment,” said one of the students as she helped prune overgrown bushes. “And this is fun!”

SLRC Named 2016 Best Community Group

This fall, SLRC, was named 2016 Best Community Group by the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce, the only group working on reservoir projects to be nominated. The group has been active for 28 years, and is committed to preserving and enhancing the historical, aesthetic, ecological and recreational benefits of Silver Lake’s open waters and surrounding open space.

The group is well known in the community for increasing public access to the reservoirs and helping to manage popular improvements, including the running/walking path, the Meadow Park, the Tesla Olive Grove pocket park and related lighting and landscaping projects.

“The Armstrong Avenue project is just one of the things we do to make the reservoirs healthier,” said Dave Keitel, President of SLRC. “Adding drought-tolerant plants to the area reduces the need for watering, creates more shade as temperatures rise and makes the walk around the reservoir more enjoyable for people and animals. This year we were thrilled to have the ESAT students join us.”

2016 Community Survey

SLRC also collects community feedback by conducting regular surveys exploring the community’s opinions on the future of the reservoir. The results of the 2016 survey are available at www.silverlakereservoirs.org.

While much of the community has been focused this past year on the effort to refill the reservoir, SLRC wanted to ask the community what they see as the future of the reservoirs and the areas surrounding it. More than 800 residents completed the comprehensive survey.

“We’re excited that the City is moving forward to refill the reservoir this spring,” said Dave Keitel, SLRC President. “Our survey looks beyond that issue to what comes next.”

The survey was designed and administered by SLRC Board member Dr. Andrew Thomas and was sent to 3,400 randomly selected residents in the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council District. Thomas reported an exceptionally high response rate of 24 percent and a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.

“Through the survey, we were able to gain valuable insight into the community’s preferred uses for the reservoir and reservoir properties, as well as their concerns,” said Thomas. He added that the results also indicated preferred projects residents would like the community and its elected representatives to dedicate resources to in the near future.

“Our organization seeks to be responsive to what the neighborhood wants,” added Keitel. “By conducting regular surveys, we are able to find out what the community’s priorities are and we can track those changes over time.”

ABOUT SILVER LAKE RESERVOIRS CONSERVANCY

The Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy (SLRC), established in 1988, is an all-volunteer, non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving and enhancing the historical, aesthetic, ecological and recreational benefits of Silver Lake’s open waters and surrounding open space. SLRC works to reflect community preferences regarding the property and advocates accordingly. While the reservoirs are part of the city water supply system, the SLRC will provide education about water quality, projects, and their impacts on the community. SLRC’s vision is to facilitate the transition of decommissioned reservoir property and to explore new opportunities regarding open space, education, recreation, watershed, wildlife, native plants, natural habitats and land use once the reservoirs go off line.