Photo Archive at Cal State Northridge of Sepulveda Basin

Sepulveda Basin Master Plan Update

FINAL DOCUMENTS
Sepulveda Dam Master Plan

Maps
Land Use Classification
Existing Recreation and Flood Frequency Contours
Vegetation
Special Status Taxa Occurrences
Real Estate
Restoration Opportunities

Appendices


Master Plan and the EA and appendixes that include the parts most pertinent to wildlife concerns (not including maps)

Click Below to Download Draft PDF's
Sepulveda Dam Master Plan
Land Use Classification Map
Sepulveda Dam Maps
Appendices

Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant In-Plant Storage Project
 
The public notice is available at http://bit.ly/oYT26M. 
The draft Environmental Assessment is available for review at http://bit.ly/plxiK1.

KAYAKING IN THE L.A. RIVER IN THE SEPULVEDA BASIN


Mayor Villaraigosa (front of canoe) taking a tour along the L.A. River, 2011

Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for a
License for a Non-Motorized Boating Pilot Program on the Los Angeles River, Sepulveda Basin,
Los Angeles County, California

A copy of the final EA/FONSI is available here: http://bit.ly/nr0bPR (5.45MB PDF)

Email to Army Corp from Steve Hartman (SBWASC) and Kris Ohlenkamp (SFV Audubon) regarding bird survey taken July 6, 2011 (July 8, 2011)
click here to view .pdf file

Letter to Army Corp from Sierra Club (July 8, 2011)
click here to view .pdf file

Letter to Army Corp from S.F. Valley Audubon regarding Kayaking in the L.A. River (July 4, 2011)
click here to view .pdf file

Letter to Army Corp from SBWASC regarding Kayaking in the L.A. River (June 30, 2011)
click here to view .pdf file

Letter to Army Corp from S.F. Valley Audubon regarding Kayaking in the L.A. River (June 28, 2011)
click here to view .pdf file

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times by Louis Sahagun (June 25, 2011) there are plans to launch kayak trips along the Los Angeles River.
Find the article at  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-river-20110625,0,5794583.story

Environmental Assessment: License for Pilot Non-Motorized Boating Program within the Los Angeles River, Sepulveda Basin (July 17, 2011)
http://www.spl.usace.army.mil/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1997&Itemid=2

Los Angeles River Non-Motorized Boating Pilot Program Recommendations (March 25, 2011)
City of Los Angeles Inter-Departmental Correspondence
click here to view .pdf file

City Council Motion on Non-Motorized Boating in the L.A. River (August 10, 2010)
click here to view .pdf file

Nesting bird and sensitive-species surveys of sites along the Los Angeles River and tributaries (April 29, 2011)
Cooper Ecological Monitoring
click here to view .pdf file

Recommendations for Near-Term Recreational Access and Use of the Los Angeles River (January 2011)
by Friends of the Los Angeles River
click here to view .pdf file

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.

Report on Non-Native Plants Along the Orange Line Busway in the Sepulveda Basin (3/22/2010)
click here to view .pdf file

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Master Plans and Environmental Assessments LACDA, Santa Ana River and Arizona Basins
Preliminary Draft Resource and Ecosystem Objectives (2/19/2010) 1.5mb .pdf file

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

Senior Park Maintenance Supervisor's Letter Regarding Organized Sports (Jan. 25, 2010)

Three maps from the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works identifying the eleven (11) facilities they maintain within the Sepulveda Basin.
click here to view 662kb .pdf file

The Effects of Dogs on Wildlife, by Tom Chester (April 28, 2005)

Click here to download a 12mb .pdf report entitled "Problems in Paradise - Weed Invasion in the Bull Creek Restoration Project." (June 2009)

Daily News Article about Bull Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project (April 12, 2009)
click here to view 307kb .pdf file

Minutes of Friends of Lake Balboa Meeting (May 28, 2009)
click here to view .pdf file

Photographer Documents Threats to Wildlife

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

Southbound I-405 to the westbound US-101 Connector Improvement Project EA199610
click here to view 12.4mb .pdf file

Environmental Assessment  / Initial Study leading to a Negative Declaration
and Finding of No Significant Impact, Final Section 4(f) Evalutaion
click here to view 54.5mb .pdf file

Sepulveda Basin Treatment Wetlands Park (Revised Draft Concept Design Report, May 2003)
click here to view 29.75mb .pdf file

Proposed Sepulveda Wetlands Park (Project Overview)
click here to view 10.75mb .pdf file

California Native Plant Society Letter (May 13, 2002)
click here to view 8.72mb .pdf file

Canada Goose Project Letter (April 18, 2002)
click here to view2.48mb .pdf file

Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Park

Final Concept Plan – Design Narrative - click here to view 3606mb .pdf file

Exhibit 2 - Overview showing features and plant communities - click here to view 1.3kb .pdf file
Exhibit 3 - Overview staging area, restrooms, amphitheatre - click here to view 1.1kb .pdf file
Exhibit 4 - Viewing Areas - click here to view 1.1kb .pdf file

Conceptual Master Plan – Landscape Revegetation Concepts – Public Workshop
click here to view 15.2mb .pdf file

Conceptual Master Plan – Design Narrative
click here to view 19.75mb .pdf file

California Native Plant Society Letter (May 16, 1995) regarding the Conceptual Master Plan
click here to view 5.81mb .pdf file

Executive Order - Environmentally and Economically Beneficial Practices on Federal Landscaped Grounds
click here to view 1.27mb .pdf file

Conceptual Wildlife Management Plan for the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Management Area
click here to view 8.73mb .pdf file

Progress Report – Los Angeles River Master Plan
56.2mb .pdf file

Los Angeles River Task Force Brainstorming Sessions - 1990 through 1991
25.3mb .pdf file

The Role of Vegetation in an Integrated Pest Management Approach to Levee Management
Sheila Daar, William Klitz, and William Olkowski. 1981
 click here to view 6mb .pdf file

Los Coches Mitigation Area: A Case Study in Native Plant Revegetation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District
Raina Fulton. 1987
click here to view 5.24mb .pdf file

Revegetation in the Sepulveda Wildlife Reserve: A Seven Year Summary
Emilia Parra-Szijj. 1989
click here to view 13.73mb .pdf file

Growth of Stipa pulchra in Experimental Field Conditions
Emilia A. Parra. 1987
click here to view 7.65mb .pdf file

California Department of Transportation Riparian Restoration Projects in San Diego County
John P. Reiger. 1987
click here to view 7.13mb .pdf file