SepulvedaBasinWildlife.org

Sunday, June 7, 2020, 8:00—11:00 a.m.
Sepulveda Basin Bird Walk
CANCELLED

Directions: Exit the San Diego Freeway (I-405) on Burbank Blvd. Go westabout one-half mile to Woodley Avenue and turn right (north). Travel about one-half mile to the second possible right turn (at sign for the Water Reclamation Plant and Japanese Garden). Turn right and go east about one-half mile to Wildlife Area parking at the end of the road. Leader: Kris Ohlenkamp. Contact him at kris.ohlenkamp@sfvaudubon.org or (805) 727-5007.

June 8, 2020 - LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A four-acre brush fire broke out in the Sepulveda Basin early Friday morning. The blaze was reported at about 2 a.m. in the 6000 block of North Woodley Avenue in the Van Nuys area. The fire burned through heavy brush, spread by 20 mile per hour winds, the Los Angeles Fire Department reports. Water-dropping helicopters assisted ground crews who were also using heavy machinery to clear debris. All flames were extinguished by 5 a.m. and the fire was contained. Crews were continuing to mop up hot spots and cut lines around the burn area. There were no injuries or damage to structures. The Sepulveda Basin includes the Balboa Golf Course, the Japanese Garden, Anthony C. Benson Park and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve. There was no word on a cause. The area often sees several homeless encampments. Most of L.A. County is under a red flag warning through Monday night due to gusty winds and low humidity. Photo below (c) CBSLA

The Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve has been selected as the Winner for the 2020 Best of Lake Balboa Awards in the category of Wildlife Refuge. The Lake Balboa Award Program was created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of businesses and organizations in and around Lake Balboa. Our mission is to raise the profile of exemplary companies and entrepreneurs among the press, the business community, and the general public.

Change to Beginning Birds-and-Nature Walks at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve:
Now Available for Groups by Reservation Only

To better match community interest, San Fernando Valley Audubon’s Birds-and-Nature Walks for families and beginners are changing format. They had been offered on second Saturday mornings October through March, as well as by reservation for groups. They are NOW available ONLY BY RESERVATION for groups. Reservations will be available for flexible days and times, including school mornings, weekend mornings, and after school. For the most part we will avoid scheduling walks in the summer months. Groups should be a minimum of 10–12 people. Partcipants will stroll through the lovely Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve with a guide, enjoying its trails and wildlife lake. Many kinds of birds are found there, along with lizards, cottontail rabbits, butterflies, fish and more. Partcipants will learn about the plants and birds and see them up close and discover why this is such a special place. We have binoculars to loan or you can use your own. These walks are for groups such as school classes not eligible for our SBEEP program, scouting and other youth groups, community centers, religious centers, environmental groups, and clubs. For reservations contact Muriel Kotin at (310) 457-5796 or muriel.kotin@sfvaudubon.org. For information only, contact Diana Keeney at (818) 998-3216.

	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 (formerly 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. This area was drastically altered in December 2012 and as of January 2013 there were ongoing negotiations between environmental groups and the Army Corps of Engineers (see section above below upcoming events).

	South Reserve, Feb. 2008

	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.

SFV Audubon	California Native Plant Society	L.A. Audubon	Sierra Club, San Fernando Valley Group

	Other Affiliated Organizations Friends of the Los Angeles River (FOLAR) The River Project Southwestern Herpetologists Society TreePeople Other Relevant Links Friends of Lake Balboa L.A. Creek Freak Blog Urban Wildlands Group City of Los Angeles River Website Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation FoLAR LA River Facebook Page


	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 6/8/2020

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			About the Sepulveda Flood Control Basin
	Sepulveda Basin, 1953 (photo courtesy of Gus Harris)		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).


	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.



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