I just returned home from the second annual Ballona Network bus tour of the Ballona watershed organized by Jeanette Vosburg. The purpose of the tour was to see and learn about our unique Ballona Watershed and efforts to restore and recreate nature in Los Angeles. The invitation for the tour was extended to elected officials, artists, activists and all nature lovers. For those of us who are artists, the idea was to inspire us to create art influenced by what we see and hear during the day. As well as the views from the bus window and the places we visited, we were treated to guest speakers working on various environmental projects around LA.
I have been an avid environmentalist for most of my adult life, have been active in several Sierra Club groups for 30 years as newsletter editor, hike leader, bartender, table sitter, etc etc etc. and I am an artist. What better way to use my artwork than to let it work for environmental issues? Last year I was able to donate four tiles to the art auction held for the benefit of the Ballona Network (see end of this blog).
One of Jeanette's themes is that we have to help the politicians understand what is important to us, the voting public. If we don't speak up, how can they know what we want? Makes sense to me. Do you want more natural areas or do you want more concrete? The developers want more concrete and have no problem letting the politicians know with nice contributions to their campaigns. Those of us who care about keeping the environment green, need to be more vociferous so the politicians will have to take notice.
As you may know, there is a lot of activity these days focusing on the revitalization of the LA River, discussions and plans about parks, trails, recreation, nature areas, neighborhoods, community development, tourism, civic pride, etc. because of Councilman Ed Reyes. We need another Ed Reyes to champion Ballona Creek. I used to bicycle along Ballona Creek regularly. I was really apalled by all the styrofoam cups, shopping carts, plastic bags and other debris in the channel. I really don't believe 99% of the population realizes that if they throw trash in the street it will end up in the creek, and then the ocean. And probably don't care... that's the sad part.
But back to the bus tour. We drove up the 405 freeway to Franklin Canyon off Mullholland Drive. We visited here last year and of course my vows to drive up on my own during the year did not come to fruition. A truly beautiful and peaceful spot. As soon as I got on the bus I checked to make sure I had brought the new battery for my digital camera, and oh no, I had brought the battery but left the memory card sitting in my computer at home! Devastation! Fortunately I was able to borrow a film camera from a friend who came on the trip. But in the meantime, here is a photo of Franklin Canyon from last year's trip.
Later we stopped along the LA River. (As an aside I'll have to post some photos of the storm drain caps painted as cat faces under the direction of Leo Limón, from a walk I did with the Sierra Club some years ago, but that's a whole other story.) It was a break in the concrete channel as we know it, with trees, plants and ducks... a vision of what the LA River could look like if enough people cared. Just a little way down at the bend is the area where there could possibly be a wetlands area in the planning stages. As if on cue a Great Blue Heron flew above the trees on the opposite bank of the river. But I was not fast enough with the camera. What I learned was that instead of trying to restore the entire river, it makes more sense to do small areas like this one.
We visited several other areas including driving by the reservoir in Silverlake, stopping in Kenneth Hahn Park, driving along the new construction of the Baldwin Overlook off Jefferson (I can see that progressing from my deck), walking along the path above the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, viewing the last remaining dunes at Playa del Rey (these are threatened with development???? How crazy can things get?) and driving alongside the Ballona Saltwater Marsh.
The bus trip ended too soon.
Last year I took the excellent interpretive walking tour of the Freshwater Marsh which is offered by the Friends of Ballona Wetlands (a different organization) on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. My photos from that walk inspired the tiles I donated to the Ballona Network auction.
This year I have promised myself to take the Saltwater Marsh tour offered on the second Sunday of each month.
The art auction for Ballona Network will be on September 9th. I will be cruising the sparkling waters of the Aegean Sea then, but still intend to donate artwork for the event. Anybody can participate, and later on I will give details.(All photos on this blog copyright roslyn m wilkins and not to be used without permission.)
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