August 1, 2010, 8am (Sunday)
Sepulveda Basin Bird Walk
First Sunday, monthly. Meet at 8:00 a.m. Directions: Exit the San Diego Freeway (I-405) on Burbank Blvd.
Go west about 1/2 mile to the first possible right turn, Woodley Ave. Turn north (right) on Woodley.
Travel about 1/2 mile to the second possible right turn (at sign for the Water Reclamation Plant and Japanese Garden).
Turn and go east about 1/2 mile to Wildlife Area parking at the end of the road. Look for people with binoculars.
For more info, call 818-346-6712. Sponsored by San Fernando Valley Audubon Society.

August 24, 2010 (Tuesday), 6:45-9:00pm
Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area Steering Committee Meeting
Public Welcome
Recreation & Parks, Valley Region Headquarters
6335 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, CA 91406

 

  
 
 
Current Postings and Recent Issues
 
 

Bird Blog and Photo Links

On July 10, 2010, between 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM, I visited Los Angeles River by the Sepulveda Dam - South from Burbank Blvd. / Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve. A few Wilson's Phalaropes were observed there recently. I did find two of them today, they were foraging in the shallow water among multiple Black-necked Stilts and Killdeers. There were also different butterflies all around. I'm attaching a list of birds that I submitted via the e-bird and you may view some of my today's photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33691985@N08/sets/72157624342664373/detail/ or a slide show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33691985@N08/sets/72157624342664373/show/ . Good birding, Alexander Viduetsky, Valley Village, CA
 

June 26, 2010. I visited Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve today in the morning between 8:30 AM and 11:30 AM. The morning was very cloudy. At 10:35 AM, a Barn Owl appeared right in front of me out of nowhere. It was the first time that I observed a Barn Owl flying at this time of a day at Sepulveda
Basin. Besides the Owl, I also watched a few aerial chases: a Crow was harassing a Turkey Vulture and a Western Kingbird was after a Red-tailed Hawk. You may view some of my today's photos via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33691985@N08/sets/72157624238779185/detail/ and slide-show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33691985@N08/sets/72157624238779185/show/ . Good birding, Alexander Viduetsky, Valley Village, CA

Bull Creek Restoration Project

In spring of 2009 the Bull Creek Channel Ecosystem restoration project was completed. Features were to include 28-acres of aquatic, riparian and native upland habitat to enhance wildlife resources along the Bull Creek channel. An oxbow (or “C”-shaped) side channel was excavated to allow water to flow from south of Victory Blvd. around an island to the Los Angeles River, but the storms of the winter of 2009-2010 resulted in severe erosion along the creek banks and the complete filling in of the oxbow with silt. The construction portion of the project was completed in May, 2009. Reclaimed water from Lake Balboa is flowing into the channel near the oxbow to enhance the existing flow. Below is a sequence of images showing the finished project, the first erosion on the east bank, the filled in oxbow, and the ensuing emerging vegetation.


August 2009                                     December 2009                                                  February 2010                                                        July 2010

Native plantings include thousands of willows, cottonwoods, box elder in the riparian areas and acres of hydroseed on the hillsides. Weeds have been a problem with this project from the beginning, and now that the one year contractor's maintenance requirement is over (as of about April 1), the weeding responsibility falls to the City (suffering from tight budgets) and volunteers. If you would like to help weeding, please contact volunteer@sepulvedabasinwildlife.org.

A couple of small hills were created as part of this project and they are covered with mostly native wildflowers, including yellow yarrow, sticky monkeyflower, Plantago, mints (Salvia spp.), California poppies, and others. Mixed in with these plants are various native shrubs including California walnut. At the base of the hill and on the surrounding areas is a (so far) very successful planting of native bunchgrasses.

   
Native wildflowers on the hill.                                                                                 Native grassland and hill.

 

  
 

Navigability and Jurisdiction Evaluation of Los Angeles River Completed

According to a Los Angeles Times article dated July 8, 2010 by Louis Sahagun, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared the entire concrete-lined Los Angeles River channel "traditional navigable waters," a designation crucial to applying Clean Water Act protections throughout its 834-square mile urban watershed. (Click HERE for article). Previously, Dean Wallraff, of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Conservation Legal Committee, wrote an article in the August 2009 Southern Sierran entitled California Clean Water Law: Restoring Protections for Wetlands and Impermanent Streams.
The article also featured a map of Permanent and Impermanent Streams near Los Angeles. 
The EPA Region 9 Office has prepared a two-page summary on the evaluation of jurisdiction and navigability on the Santa Cruz River, AZ and the Los Angeles River. The summary provides some background and outlines specific information categories for public comment. EPA is interested in obtaining data and information from agencies and interested parties to assist in this evaluation. Please reply to the EPA contact listed in the document.

Photographer Documents "Rape of Wildlife Reserve"

Please click the links below to view images of illegal fishing, swimming, dogs off leash (in the lake too), killing of birds, etc.

The Best Fishing Hole in the Valley

Illegal Fishing and Off-Leash Dogs

Coot Killed with Beer Bottle

Rape of the Wildlife Reserve

Water board moves to enforce ban on trash in L.A. River

Cities along the watershed are required by 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains.
Those that don't comply will now be in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

By Bettina Boxall - December 11, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Regional water quality officials on Thursday put some teeth into their long campaign to cleanse the Los Angeles River system of the tons of trash that turn it into a movable landfill after major storms. Standards previously adopted by the Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board give cities along the watershed until 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains. On Thursday, the board incorporated those limits into storm water permits, putting municipalities that don't meet the requirements in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Until now there had been no penalty for noncompliance.

"It's taken two decades to get to this point," board vice-chair Madelyn Glickfeld said after the 5-0 vote. "If we hadn't done this today, it would have been a signal" to cities "to relax, guys." During storms, tons of trash and plastic debris wash up in municipal drains that empty into the Los Angeles River and its tributaries. The trash floating at the river's mouth in Long Beach can be so thick that it is hard to see any water. In the unusually wet winter of 2005, Long Beach hauled more than 12,000 tons of garbage out of the river. Much of the trash winds up in the Pacific Ocean, contributing to huge floating garbage patches. Pieces of plastic can wrap around wildlife and kill birds and fish.

Trash was formally identified as a pollution problem in the river in 1996. Five years later, the regional water board adopted standards. But 22 cities sued to overturn the trash limits, saying they would be expensive and difficult to meet. The courts found the board had not performed an adequate environmental impact analysis of the new rules, but otherwise upheld them. After conducting an environmental review, the board readopted the trash standards in 2007. In the meantime, some cities in the watershed, including Los Angeles, started installing screens and collection systems to keep street debris from washing into sewers. Sixteen cities in the watershed recently received $10 million in federal stimulus money to outfit their catch basins. Local officials pointed to progress Thursday. "We have taken trash reduction seriously," said Signal Hill Councilman Larry Forester. Another official showed the board photographs he took after Monday's storm. Parts of the river that have been coated with trash in the past were largely clean.
Local representatives argued that it wasn't necessary to write a target of zero trash discharges into the storm permits, and that doing so would set a burdensome precedent for other pollutants.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Corporation Formed to Help Transform LA River

A nonprofit corporation was established Tuesday to help advance a decades-long plan to transform 32 miles of the concrete-filled Los Angeles River into a strip of parks, walkways, bike trails and housing. The Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation is tasked with buying, selling and developing property along a portion of the river stretching from the west San Fernando Valley to East Los Angeles. To read more, click HERE for Huffington Post.
  
 

 
 

OLDER ISSUES

Fire Road in the South Reserve

Sports Complex

  
   
 
 
 
About this Website
  
SBWASC Mission Statement
 
     
 
 

This website is sponsored by the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee (SBWASC) that has been meeting monthly since June 1990. The purpose of the Committee is to advise the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks concerning the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the existing wildlife areas and any future expansion thereof. The Committee may also make recommendations on matters concerning flora, fauna, and other natural resources in other areas within the Sepulveda Basin, such as the Los Angeles River and its tributaries, park land, and open spaces.

The membership of the Committee is comprised of organizations with a demonstrated interest in flora, fauna, and other natural resources within the Sepulveda Basin. See the bottom of this page to see the logos of the member organizations and other affiliated agencies, or click the tab at the top of the page.
Minutes of the SBWASC can be found here.
Regular meetings of the Committee are held monthly, generally on the fourth Tuesday at 6:30pm, usually at the Valley Region Headquarters of the Dept. of Recreation and Parks, 6335 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, CA 91406. See “Upcoming Events” on this page for next meeting.

DIRECTIONS TO THE WILDLIFE RESERVE
Turn north from Burbank Blvd. (or south from Victory Blvd.) onto Woodley Ave.,
which is ½ mile west of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) and just north of the 101Freeway.
Travel about ½ mile to the second possible right turn. Turn east (right) onto Wildlife Way,
at the sign for the Wildlife Reserve (and Japanese Gardens).
Bear right at the immediate fork in the road and go east ½ mile to the Wildlife Area parking.
The Wildlife Reserve is to the south...follow the trail down from the restrooms area.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

The “Public Recreational Use Plan Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area” was signed and agreed to in 1987 by the City of Los Angeles, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State of California Department of Fish and Game (copy attached). The “Public Access and Use” section (beginning on Page 6) provides, in part, as follows:

"Therefore the following rules and/or regulations will be enforced within the Wildlife Area by City park rangers and City police. These rules will be incorporated in appropriate public use information signs and posted at the entrance and appropriate locations with the wildlife area.

1. Public use shall be allowed on the Wildlife Area during daylight hours only.

2. Camping, open fires, and the use of gas cooking stoves on the Wildlife Area is prohibited.

3. All visitors shall remain on the designated trail. There will be no public access to the east side of the wildlife lake to prevent disturbance to wildlife.

4. Bicycles, skateboards, or rollerskating will not be allowed in the Wildlife Area.

5. No person shall drive, operate, leave or stop any motor vehicle, off-road vehicle, or tractor in the Wildlife Management Area except for maintenance vehicles.

6. No person shall swim, wade, or dive within the Wildlife Area.

7. No person shall launch or operate a boat or other floating device within the Wildlife Area.

8. No person shall disturb or take any bird, nest, or eggs thereof, or any plant, mammal, fish, mollusk, crustacean, amphibian, reptile or any other form of plant or animal within the Wildlife Area.

9. No person shall possess, fire or discharge any firearm, bow and arrow, air or gas gun, spear gun, or any other weapon of any kind within or into the Wildlife Area.

10. Individual user permits will not be required; however, a visitor sign-in booth will be located at the entrances and will be maintained by the City.

11. All commercial activities are prohibited on the Wildlife Area. Large organizational groups of over 50 people will require prior Parks and Recreation (City) approval before use of the Wildlife Area.

12. The release of any fish or wildlife species, domestic or domesticated species, or the introduction of any plant species, is prohibited.

13. The feeding of wildlife is prohibited.

14. Pets, including dogs, cats and horses are prohibited from entering the Wildlife Area."

  

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The mission of the Committee shall be to oversee, in its advisory capacity, the wildlife refuge areas and other areas of present or potential natural value within the Sepulveda Basin, as well as to support policies and programs that ensure their long-term preservation, protection, and enhancement.

Article 3, Section 63.44 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code contains Regulations Affecting Park and Recreation Areas.  63.44 B-2 mandates that all dogs be on a leash less than 6 feet long, B-10 prohibits bows or crossbows, B-11 prohibits the take/seizure/hunting of all birds/animals/fish, B-12 bans the removal of wood/plants/rocks/soil, B-13 makes it illegal to deface any property (including plants), B-14 prohibits all loitering between 10:30 PM and 5:00 AM, B-16 prohibits all human or motor powered vehicles (except on trails or roads specifically for that purpose), B-17 bans all fires, B-19 prohibits littering, B-21 bans firearms.

EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS

General Service Dept. Police Dispatch
213.978-4670

LA City Animal Services West Valley
818.756-9325 and 818.756-9356

California Wildlife Center
310.456-9453 or 818.222-2658

OTHER

Park Rangers 323.644-6661

  
 
     
About the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin
 
   
All property within the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin is owned by the Los Angeles District Corps of Engineers, but more than 80% of the land is leased out for recreational and agricultural uses. Sepulveda Dam, completed in 1941, is a dry-land reservoir, with the purpose of controlling runoff from nearby San Gabriel, Santa Monica, and Santa Susana Mountains.

Besides the Encino and Balboa golf courses, the Balboa Sports Complex, and the model airplane field, most of the Basin was devoted to agriculture (corn and then sod farms). In the mid-1960’s, Burbank Blvd. was extended across the Basin. In the 1970’s the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation built the Donald Tillman Water Reclamation Plant within the Basin (over the objections of the Corp of Engineers).

 
 
 
In March of 1981, a revised Master Plan for the area was adopted. At the time, of the 2,150 acres in the Sepulveda Basin, approximately 1,060 acres were committed to recreational uses. The updated Master Plan designated an additional 540 acres for future recreational uses. Included in the plan are provisions for the commitment of approximately 220 acres of land to informal park space, 120 acres for development of a recreational lake, 108 acres for a wildlife management area, and 60 acres for an “arts park” that has been subsequently redesignated for a “sports complex” (the area west of Balboa Blvd. just north of the Los Angeles River.
  
     
 

The Master Plan also tried to minimize adverse environmental effects and recommended “designing reaches of newly-formed lakes and ponds
to emulate existing wetland conditions on the site and by replanting existing riparian plant species” and to “accompany new park developments
with the introduction of native plant species to create new habitats in the basin.”

  
     
 
In 1979 the Corp of Engineers developed the first area of the Wildlife Reserve (now called the South Reserve), an approximate 48 acre parcel located south of Burbank Blvd and bordered by the Los Angeles River and the Sepulveda Dam on the east and south. A “pothole” pond (fed with piped-in fresh water) was created, and vegetation representing coastal sage scrub and riparian woodlands were planted.
  
     
   
     
 
The approximate 60-acre North Reserve (north of Burbank Blvd., east of Haskell Creek, west of the Dam) was developed in 1988,
featuring an 11-acre lake with an island and wildlife viewing stations. Various revegetation projects have been undertaken since then.
  
     
 
 
 
above, the stone monuments we call "stonehenge."

the reserve entrance and restrooms.
  
         
 
In 1991 the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant Flood Protection Project was finalized, and subsequently a berm was built
around the Water Reclamation Plant to protect it from flooding, compensating excavation was performed in various places,
and the outflow from the Water Reclamation Plant was
rerouted under the dam so the outflow was outside
(to the south) of the Dam. The 7-acre berm was planted
with California native plants and is the largest native landscaping project developed by the City of Los Angeles.

 
     
above, the berm surrounding the Water Reclamation Plant.
 
         
 
In 1994, the City and Federal governments agreed to sharing the costs on $11 million in improvements in the Sepulveda Basin.
The wildlife are was expanded 110 acres to the west of Haskell Creek (on either side of Woodley Avenue).
Additional facilities in the wildlife area included trails, restrooms and staging area, signs, benches, viewing blinds and parking. This project was completed in 1999.
  
     
 
 
  
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
Member Organizations and Affiliated Agencies
  
 
 

Southwestern Herpetologists Society
The Canadian Goose Project
California Native Plant Society
L.A. Audubon
The River Project
   

The Japanese Garden
Sierra Club, San Fernando Valley Group
LA City Rec and Parks
Resource Conservation District
SFV Audubon
Tree People
 


Other Relevant Links

Friends of Lake Balboa
L.A. Creek Freak Blog
Urban Wildlands Group
 

  
 
 
     
 

Web page and design by Justin Baker.
Text and captions by Steven L. Hartman.
All photographs taken in the Sepulveda Basin by Steven L. Hartman unless otherwise noted.

 
 

Last Updated 07/27/10

  
 
 
 
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