Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project Certified by California

Despite persistent opposition from a few determined activists, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) "certified" the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project. The Project will restore the largest coastal wetlands complex in Los Angeles County and increase public access to outdoor recreation and natural spaces in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Mainstream environmental groups representing thousands of member stakeholders who supported the CDFW project as a Coalition, including Heal the Bay, Friends of Ballona Wetlands and Surfrider Foundation, hailed the milestone on social media.

The project will enhance existing wetlands at Ballona and establish additional native coastal wetlands and upland habitat within the state’s 577 acre Ecological Reserve, south of Marina del Rey and east of Playa del Rey. It will restore ecological function to currently degraded wetlands, preserving sensitive habitat for future generations.

Above: Existing saltmarsh along a historic railroad grade in the southern half of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

Most of the added wetlands will be "saltmarsh", refreshed by daily ocean tides. Unlike fresh water wetlands, which can exist virtually anywhere fresh water is available, coastal saltmarsh can only exist within a short distance of the ocean. Nearly 97% of California's salty tidal wetlands were lost to development, making the creation of new saltmarsh even more valuable. Saltmarsh has the added benefit of not harboring virus-carrying mosquitos, which breed in fresh water wetlands but cannot do so in salty sea water.

A summary of the project can be accessed at this CDFW link. All of the Project's EIR analyses can be downloaded from this CDFW page.

The EIR does not authorize any construction. The EIR is merely a detailed analysis required to inform the many state and local agencies which must ultimately issue permits for the Project's construction. The EIR contains scores of mitigation measures, which are requirements permitting agencies must impose to reduce or prevent Project impacts. For example, a common mitigation measure found in the Ballona EIR requires active construction areas be watered to prevent dust from blowing into neighboring areas. Other mitigation measures prevent traffic and noise impacts, and many more protect resident plants and animals.

Above: One of the numerous mitigation requirements of the Ballona EIR states that the endangered Belding's Savannah Sparrow must nest successfully in newly created saltmarsh before enhancement of existing saltmarsh may begin.

Over the past few years, opponents sought to stop EIR certification by exerting political pressure on elected officials, staging local protests and using media to misrepresent the impacts and benefits of the Project. Now that the EIR is certified, these activists are expected to make good on prior threats to challenge the EIR in court, which state law allows. If opponents file lawsuits, supporters will likely ask the courts to expedite their review, as the existing Ballona habitat becomes increasingly degraded with each passing year of inaction.

CDFW chose the most ambitious of several project options analyzed in the EIR. The chosen option achieves the most restoration, which is important because of the extensive degradation at Ballona due to a long history of human impacts. The chosen plan also protects lower Playa del Rey from sea level rise, which would flood local roads more frequently, more severely and much sooner without the Project.

Naturally, the most ambitious restoration is also the most expensive, but compared to many other coastal wetland projects, is not excessive for a metropolitan area as large as Los Angeles. The state's annual budgeting process will primarily fund the project, so all California taxpayers will be footing the bill, as they have for many other coastal restorations over the years.

How Did We Get Here?

CDFW and other state agencies spent decades working with the public and scientists, envisioning a plan for Ballona, which once encompassed a 2,000-acre expanse of marshes, mud flats, and sand dunes stretching from Playa del Rey to Venice and inland to the Baldwin Hills. Today, the Reserve’s 577 acres are all that remain of the former wetlands. The state acquired the Reserve lands from developers in 2003 with $149 million in bond funds approved by California voters. Since then, studies were performed to support the Draft EIR, released for public comment in 2017. Hundreds of public comments were received by CDFW and are incorporated within the Final EIR.

Above: Marina Del Rey construction in the 1950s buried the northern half of Ballona's saltmarsh with dredged muds, shown in the photo center-left. The Fish and Wildlife project will dig out this fill to recreate wetlands and reuse it for levee, trail and upland habitat construction.

The ecosystem at Ballona is considered one of the last remaining opportunities for major coastal habitat restoration in Los Angeles. Ecological components of the project include enhancing and restoring 200 acres of tidal wetlands and reconnecting them with the ocean tides, eliminating mechanical tide gates that presently restrict tidal circulation. This tidal reconnection will be accomplished by demolishing a section of Ballona Creek's obsolete and massive concrete banks, replacing them with a modern, vegetated earthen levee along Culver Blvd.

This plan will improve tidal flushing in the existing saltmarsh and allow new saltmarsh creation south of Fiji Way, where 200 acres of dry, weedy fill dirt exists today. The levees will be built from that dirt, which was dumped atop the original Ballona wetlands during Marina Del Rey construction in the 1950s. Ten miles of bike- and footpaths will be placed atop the new levees and on other upland areas (details at this link).

What Will You See, And Will You Like It?

To analyze visual impacts, part of the EIR contains visual simulations, which are before/after photo pairs from key viewpoints around the Reserve. The first in the pair is an actual photograph of the existing view, while the second is a simulation of how the view will change once the Project is complete. Trained specialists use computer programs to create the simulation. Three of the 12 pairs analyzed in the EIR are shown below.

Above: Before and After views from the new southern bike path along Culver Blvd.

Above: Before and After views looking east from Lincoln Blvd, near the Via Marina neighborhood.

Above: Before and After views from the Ballona Dunes area, adjacent to lower Playa Del Rey. The vegetated levee can be seen in the simulation. The southern bike path will be on the top of the levee and a footpath will be immediately below the bike path, separated by a vegetation buffer.

In addition to the fish and wildlife benefits, the project will help achieve equity and access to natural spaces for all Angelenos. Once restored, Ballona will be one of the largest natural open spaces available to the public in the City of Los Angeles, second only to Griffith Park. Nearly 3 million Angelenos live within a short drive of Ballona. The trail and bike path plan is shown below.

Above: The network of new trails, bike paths and bridges of the Ballona Project. The lower pair of bike and foot paths are built atop an earthen levee along Culver Blvd. The levee functionally replaces the concrete banks of Ballona Creek which are transformed into the curvy creek section shown above.

What's Next?

The project now proceeds toward final design while CDFW works with the L.A. County Flood Control District and completes a federal environmental review, a process expected to take another two and a half years. Approvals from the Coastal Commission, Water Quality Control Board and possibly other agencies are also required before any construction begins. Supporters expect the opponents to continue to try to block the project at each of these steps.

Above: Rendering of the main entrance to the Reserve along Fiji Way. Of the hundreds of public comments CDFW received, most were from people supporting the proposed trails, paths and viewing areas.

In My Opinion...

The list of adverse project impacts alleged by the opponents in public meetings over the years is very long. Their fictional narratives, often subjective but rarely supported by evidence, include; that the project is too costly, will kill thousands of sensitive plants and animals, will harm the public health, increase global warming, destroy groundwater resources, create a Disneyland-like amusement park, is a gas industry conspiracy, will cause a methane explosion apocalypse, and will unleash a flood of biblical proportions, washing Playa Del Rey into the sea.

Now that the EIR is certified, opponents will have an opportunity to convince a judge that their stories have merit.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands! -DK

CDFW contact: Jordan Traverso, CDFW Communications, (916) 654-9937

Author’s note on affiliations:

Dr. David W. Kay served on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands from 2007 until 2015, and served as Board President in 2012-13. He presently serves on the Board of Ballona Discovery Park. David is a staunch advocate for the state’s restoration plan.

Since 1984, David has been employed by Southern California Edison Company, exclusively in the company’s environmental services organizations. His many responsibilities included restoration of the 440-acre San Dieguito Wetlands near Del Mar. He is presently Senior Manager for Project Environmental Licensing at the company.

David earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and a doctorate in environmental science .

See Dr. Kay’s Patch contributor profile here.