At Glacial Speed, Ballona Restoration Proposals Emerge

Like having your teeth extracted, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project is proceeding at the painfully slow speed of a cool desert tortoise. While government agencies are sometimes known for taking their time to do work, the Ballona Restoration Project DEIR must be setting new records for slothfulness. Technical studies and public input forums for this project began in the early 1990s, and now, 25 years later, we will finally have the opportunity to review and comment on the various project Alternatives when they are put forth in the DEIR. In comparison, the DEIR for the San Dieguito Wetlands Restoration Project, a project of comparable size and setting also managed by a multi-agency consortium, took two years to prepare and publish.

In fairness, the Ballona Project navigated unique circumstances which slowed its progression, including the need to purchase private land as part of the project area, the technical complexities and regulatory constraints concerning modification of the Ballona flood control channel, and the proposal and then withdrawal by the Annenberg Foundation for a visitor center complex. In addition, opposition and protest by so-called environmentalist groups on practically every matter throughout the entire project development history have driven cowering political leaders to the sidelines. Absent any strong advocacy or leadership by elected officials, the Ballona Project has nevertheless gradually proceeded toward reality under the management of dedicated agency bureaucrats, assisted by equally dedicated scientists and engineers.

The Project’s official website at http://ballonarestoration.org/alternative-1/ shows three possible variations of a restoration plan, plus the customary “No Project” alternative. Alternative 1 (see artist rendering), which would provide the most comprehensive restoration of the 640-acre reserve lands south of Marina Del Rey, would create tidal and freshwater wetland in the area north of Ballona Creek that was filled in during Marina Del Rey’s construction in the 1950-60s. Alternative 1 would also replace the straight concrete channel of Ballona Creek west of Lincoln Blvd. with a soil-banked meandering channel, and enhance existing wetlands south of Ballona Creek. Alternatives 2 and 3 are lesser versions of Alternative 1. Go to the website to read about the Alternatives in more detail. When the DEIR is released, it will analyze the environmental impacts of all Alternatives in excruciating detail.

After the County and Feds built that well-intended but poorly planned concrete channel which unintentionally strangled the Ballona wetlands by isolating them from daily tides, the County then compounded the damage by dumping millions of cubic yards of dredge spoils from Marina development atop 200 acres of adjacent tidal wetland. Now 14 to17 feet high and covered mostly with weeds, this fill dirt south of Fiji Way must be excavated down to 2 feet or lower elevation before incoming tides can again nourish the land as they had done prior to Marina construction. So, Alternative 1 would return the land back to a state that most closely resembles the shallow tidal wetland that once stretched from Venice in the north to Playa Del Rey in the south and east to the location of the present-day 90 Freeway (see 1930s map).

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands, but don’t hold your breath waiting for the Restoration Project DEIR!