A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 11, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Topanga Creek near
The
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Topanga Creek near
The
By Tami Abdollah, Staff Writer
These days large swaths of the once-meandering Topanga Creek are dry and full of dirt and look like a
Beginning in the 1960s, residents fearful that heavy rains would swell the creek and flood their homes gradually began to pile on material to interrupt the water flow.
"If they had a contractor buddy who needed to get rid of cement, they'd say, 'Bring it on here!' " said Suzanne Goode, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
The creek, along Rodeo Grounds Road, is diverted off to a narrow path that causes it to slow down and dump its sediment. Water then trickles underground during the dry season.
On Monday, however, the parks department will begin a two-month project to remove 19,000 cubic yards -- weighing 26,000 tons -- of soil, asphalt, concrete and possibly car parts that form the berm so water can run year-round once again.
Dry weeds dot the sides of the berm. Below it lies the dusty creek bed and a rickety bridge that former residents once used to cross the creek.
Officials hope the restoration will give the federally endangered
About 60 years ago, roughly 1,500 steelhead trout traveled from the sea up the creek to spawn in the winter. Now, only about 10 swim Topanga Creek each year, and "those that show up are faced with barriers and bad habitat," said Nica Knite, a
"Quite often they cannot get back downstream, and they'll be trapped in pools that start to dry out," Goode said.
A 2006 study by California Trout assessed the
About 50,000 steelhead trout swam in waterways from the
These
"They're actually the first ones that evolved, and they are able to tolerate the warmer waters that we have in
Knite also said the Topanga Creek restoration will give scientists an opportunity to study how the southern trout adapts to changing habitats. She said that within a year or two, the effects of the berm's removal will be evident. "Fish show up in places they haven't been in years as soon as you give them a place to come," Knite said.
The 1,600-acre parcel called
The state paid about $5 million to relocate the residents, Goode said. Buildings in the area were demolished over the last few years in preparation for the creek restoration.
The 12-acre project to remove the berm and some nonnative plants, and restore the riparian system with native plants, will cost about $3 million, Goode said.
Workers will plant willow, mule fat, alders, cottonwoods, sycamores and oaks, and remove the highly flammable and bamboo-like arundo plant, jacaranda, an orange tree and palm trees. Some nonnative plants will stay to address concerns of people living further up the canyon who don't want vegetation uprooted.
"There's exotic grasses, crab grass, fruit trees; it looks sort of like people's backyards," Goode said. "Then you have dry creek bed for thousands of feet that has these arundos growing on both sides instead of the willows that it should have."
Residents were also concerned that some of the asphalt in the berm was probably dumped there after
Decades ago, when gasoline was still leaded, the lead would often drip onto the asphalt on roads or near gas stations, she said. Officials decided that all materials from the berm will be tested for lead. Lead-free dirt will be sent via a covered truck to a nearby dump. If any debris tests positive for lead, it will be trucked to a special landfill in the
The area will remain open to the public while workers restore it. The rainy season will probably bring water back to the creek later this year.
Officials envision a future in which the creek will run year-round and the area will look as it did in the 1920s and '30s. The bubbling creek would be free to choose its own path down the canyon's crevices, full of silvery steelhead trout and other fish swimming back and forth from its headwaters to the Pacific. Around the creek lush green native plants will hopefully provide a thriving habitat.
"Restoring this area is the work of a lifetime," said Goode, who is one of the managers on the restoration project. "It will not be done when I retire."#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then10-2008aug10,0,5173728.story
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