A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 28, 2008
3. Watersheds –
San Gabriel River becomes deathbed for ducks: The carcasses of at least 50 ducklings and adults were found in the dried-up concrete basin, where flows are regulated to serve 2.4 million people, not wildlife.
The
Editorial
Restoring the wetlands: Bolsa Chica and
The
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San Gabriel River becomes deathbed for ducks: The carcasses of at least 50 ducklings and adults were found in the dried-up concrete basin, where flows are regulated to serve 2.4 million people, not wildlife.
The
By Louis Sahagun, Staff Writer
What had been for the last six months a vibrant stream teeming with migrating waterfowls and shorebirds early last week became a dry
The discovery prompted calls for an investigation into the deaths of at least 20 cinnamon teal ducklings, 10 mallard ducklings and 20 adult mallards that had sought refuge in a shrinking pool of water in a concrete basin just south of
It also raised questions about the place of nature in an urban water system in which virtually every drop is adjudicated and someone has a claim to.
"The system does not include ducklings as part of the equation," said D.J. Waldie, spokesman for the city of
"For decades we managed the
Andrew Lee, a local chemist who frequently goes bird-watching along the river and discovered the dead birds, would not argue with any of that. "I dropped by there on Tuesday and, wow, the water was gone and everything was dead."
Lee e-mailed photographs of what he described as "carnage" to other birders and Audubon Society members who, in turn, forwarded them to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, along with demands for an explanation.
"The county should have better management practices," Lee said. "If only they could have waited a little longer to let the water recede, maybe the birds would have lived. After all, mid-July is peak breeding season."
In an interview at the river, Adam Walden and Sterling Klippel, civil engineers in the department's water resources division, expressed regret that the birds died but pointed out that their mission is to maintain a complex water system for millions of people countywide, not to protect ducklings.
"We're happy when migrating waterfowl uses water in the river to rest and breed," Klippel said. "But when water is available, it's flowing. When it's gone, it's gone. Once it percolates into the aquifer, there's no way, even if we wanted to, to provide water to the birds that are oftentimes out there."
On Thursday, several days too late for the ducks, water released from high in the
Gushing downstream at a rate of about 300 yards an hour, the water pushed rabbits and ground squirrels out of the channel and formed pools that were magnets for green herons, egrets and swallows.
"There's some little ducklings right there," Klippel said. "Look at the little guys."
Garry George, conservation chairman of Los Angeles Audubon, said he planned to send Lee's photographs and notes to state wildlife authorities.
"It's against state and federal laws to kill or harass migratory birds," George said. "Here's a county flood control policy that is in conflict with those laws. Obviously, there has to be an investigation."
Kimball Garrett, ornithology collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, agreed, to a point.
"It would be nice if they took into account impacts on vulnerable nesting birds before they manipulate water levels," he said. "This illustrates the bigger problem, which is that if we have these channelized rivers intended for flood control but are also the only de facto wildlife habitat left, shouldn't we manage for both purposes?"
But what should the proportion of flood-control channel to duckling be?
"Right now, there isn't enough water in our system to keep perpetual flows in the
Surveying the recharged river channel from a berm overlooking the concrete drop structure that Lee said was strewn with duck carcasses last week, Walden added, "We're the good guys. If not for this operation, the entire southern reach of this river would be dry as a desert. So when people ask, 'What about the ducks?' I tell them we're providing a quasi-refuge."
The
Water rights to the
Today, the river and the aquifers it recharges serve 2.4 million people in the
Storms occasionally restore the river to its full length, but only briefly. Its soft bed yields to flood-control concrete for 10 of its final 13 miles. Tides backwash the
"Its balance of benefit weighs in favor of humans, not wildlife," Waldie said. "Does it need an advocate for wildlife in the same way there are advocates for movement of its water toward bathtubs, taps and lawns from
"That's a difficult question to ask in a time of serious drought," he said.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-river28-2008jul28,0,1464700.story
Editorial
Restoring the wetlands: Bolsa Chica and
The
It sometimes appears that the Earth is so damaged by human activity that there is nothing we can do to repair it. When something as seemingly innocent as switching on the lights or starting the car helps push the global climate off-kilter, what hope is there for redemption?
Californians' apparently unquenchable thirst has dried up lakes and rivers.
It seems, often, that it's too late, that we should begin telling stories to our children and grandchildren of what used to be.
So it's refreshing -- and instructive -- to read about the rebirth of wetlands like those feared lost forever in
Even wildlife biologists and environmentalists are surprised at the degree to which Bolsa Chica has recovered. It happened through a process of advocacy, conflict, negotiation, settlement, regulation and action. The ports of
About 300 or so miles to the north,
The visionaries who built
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-rebirth26-2008jul26,0,5788031.story?track=rss
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