News of the Arroyo
Title: | Army engineers link up with cities, county |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2005-08-23 |
Summary: | August 23, 2005 - Futher informaton and reaction to the Army Corps of Engineers restoration study for the Arroyo Seco. Includes reactions for local government and environmentalists. |
Author: | Gary Scott |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | In the late 1930s, man tamed the torrential flows that occasionally spilled down the Arroyo Seco --threatening livestock, property and lives -- and turned the 21-mile gulch into a tranquil neighbor for the growing cities along its banks. Taking control meant lining long stretches of the arroyo with concrete, turning the once meandering streambed into an orderly channel that would take the waters from the San Gabriel Mountains and smaller tributaries down to the Los Angeles River and out to sea. In the 70 years since, the natural charm and variety of this once-thriving ecosystem seems to have been washed out to sea as well. Deadened by the tons of concrete, areas such as Northeast Los Angeles have become havens for the homeless and canvasses for graffiti artists, while residents in the surrounding neighborhoods have been effectively cut off from the arroyo. At the same time, the water quality has been degraded, with levels of algae, bacteria and trash causing the Environmental Protection Agency to list the watershed as \"impaired.\" For years, environmentalists, parks advocates and neighborhood activists have lobbied the arroyo\'s governmental stewards to rethink the flood-control policies that led to the channelization and begin the hard work of restoring the streambed to a more natural state. Now, an agreement has been struck between local communities and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to mount a serious technical study of projects designed to improve the watershed\'s health by removing stretches of concrete and building parks and pathways along the banks. \"A lot of the projects being studied are really projects to correct the errors of the past,\" said Norma Edith Garcia, legislative deputy of parks, environment and rivers for Supervisor Gloria Molina\'s office. \"We want to see naturalization and a natural stream.\" The agreement calls on the county and the cities of Pasadena, South Pasadena, Los Angeles and La Canada Flintridge to bear half the burden of the estimated $2.85-million cost to complete the three-year study. The Army Corps of Engineers would be expected to make up the difference. Garcia and others say the federal government\'s involvement is crucial to the study\'s success. First, it makes any projects approved in the study eligible for federal funding -- the cost of removing the concrete alone has been estimated at $500 million. Second, having the Army Corps\' stamp of approval could ensure the plans are not placed on the shelf, as similar watershed studies have been in the past. \"Having the people who put in the concrete looking at ways of taking it out might put more teeth in the project outline,\" said Jeff Chapman, watershed coordinator for the Arroyo Seco Foundation. That there appears to be consensus that the arroyo must be restored signals a shift in how government agencies approach flood control, and is emblematic of what has been happening across the county. \"In the past, we concentrated on getting all of the storm water out to sea as quickly as possible to avoid flooding,\" said Melinda Barrett, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. Today, \"the department has focused on a watershed approach\" that includes parks, restoration and water conservation. This changing philosophy is resulting in a changing landscape, as environmentally sensitive projects are planned for other streambeds, from the Tujunga Wash to the San Gabriel River Basin to the Los Angeles River. \"This is really a county-wide effort to expand our focus from flood-control only to these multiuse approaches,\" Barrett said. A continuing challenge is finding ways to restore habitat and build parkland that does not endanger residents or property downstream, Chapman said. This will be particularly important when looking at areas south of the Colorado Street Bridge and in the city of Los Angeles, where the arroyo is bordered by the Pasadena (110) Freeway on one side and houses on the other. A coalition dubbed the Council of Arroyo Seco Agencies has been formed to monitor studies and review projects planned for the arroyo. The group includes representatives from the cities, the county, nonprofits and Caltrans. CASA was formed in response to a 2001 study of the arroyo, completed by the Arroyo Seco Foundation and Northeast Trees. \"The time is right for these projects to move forward,\" Chapman said. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, has been working on securing federal funding for the three-year study, which got under way this week. Public hearings are scheduled for sometime next year. \"There definitely seems to be a developing momentum to help preserve and restore the Arroyo Seco, and a growing recognition of its value,\" Schiff said. |
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