The LA Times has a great article and video about the recovery of the green sea turtle recovered from the San Gabriel River.
Seems like the poor thing suffered a lot of abuse before it was rescued!
Showing posts with label San Gabriel River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Gabriel River. Show all posts
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Los Cerritos Channel
As you may know, green sea turtles were recently sighted swimming up the San Gabriel River. They were seen in the area of the Cerritos Channel, an arm of the San Gabriel River estuary. So of course I had to check it out! Sadly, no turtles were seen during my brief visit, but I thought I'd write it up on this blog, because this unlikely area was full of quite a few surprises.
View Larger Map
There is a small park along Cerritos Channel called Channel View Park.
The park is a highly manicured strip of lawn with a bike/pedestrian path, separated from the channel by an ugly chainlink fence. Opportunities to commune with nature here are limited, although if the scenery is appealing in that post-apocolyptic way that comes so easily in southern California:
The huge stacks of a powerplant dominate the landscape. The plant takes in water from the river to cool the engines, and returns heated effluent to the San Gabriel river. Both the intake and effluent have deleterious impacts on the marine environment, and these impacts are closely monitored by a number of agencies. The most severe impacts are the death of marine organisms on intake screens, and the alteration of the thermal regime of the river.
As I mentioned, the park itself doesn't offer much access to nature, though you can see quite a bit from the bridges over the channel on Loynes Drive and Studebaker.
Birdlife was somewhat abundant here, with several of the usual suspects:
Cormorants, either perched on the trash booms or here, flying in V-formation.
Great egret.
Not shown: belted kingfisher and great blue heron. The vacant lots around the channel show evidence of wild dogs--either strays, or perhaps coyotes!
The contrast between the graceful birds and the imposing industral backgrop can be quite jarring:
The bridge on Studebaker offers a glimps into muddier habitat than is typical of other parts of the channel, which are full of rocky riprap:
You can see long and elegant smelt swimming at the surface, or even jumping out.
The most exciting sighting of the day were two large-ish octopuses (or octopi--both are correct!) fighting in the shallow water! Sadly, I got no photos to show. But I will be sure to try again sometime soon!
View Larger Map
There is a small park along Cerritos Channel called Channel View Park.
The park is a highly manicured strip of lawn with a bike/pedestrian path, separated from the channel by an ugly chainlink fence. Opportunities to commune with nature here are limited, although if the scenery is appealing in that post-apocolyptic way that comes so easily in southern California:
The huge stacks of a powerplant dominate the landscape. The plant takes in water from the river to cool the engines, and returns heated effluent to the San Gabriel river. Both the intake and effluent have deleterious impacts on the marine environment, and these impacts are closely monitored by a number of agencies. The most severe impacts are the death of marine organisms on intake screens, and the alteration of the thermal regime of the river.
As I mentioned, the park itself doesn't offer much access to nature, though you can see quite a bit from the bridges over the channel on Loynes Drive and Studebaker.
Birdlife was somewhat abundant here, with several of the usual suspects:
Cormorants, either perched on the trash booms or here, flying in V-formation.
Great egret.
Not shown: belted kingfisher and great blue heron. The vacant lots around the channel show evidence of wild dogs--either strays, or perhaps coyotes!
The contrast between the graceful birds and the imposing industral backgrop can be quite jarring:
The bridge on Studebaker offers a glimps into muddier habitat than is typical of other parts of the channel, which are full of rocky riprap:
You can see long and elegant smelt swimming at the surface, or even jumping out.
The most exciting sighting of the day were two large-ish octopuses (or octopi--both are correct!) fighting in the shallow water! Sadly, I got no photos to show. But I will be sure to try again sometime soon!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sea turtles in Long Beach!
The Press-Telegram has an article about green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Long Beach!
Apparently, about a dozen of the endangered critters are swimming up the San Gabriel river, attracted by the warmth from the powerplant that uses the river to cool its generators.
Read the article here.
Presumably, the turtles are hanging out in the soft-bottomed estuarine portion of the river (south of PCH), and not going into the concrete-lined freshwater portions (pictured below):
I have never seen turtles in the San Gabriel River, but now that I know they are there, I'll be sure to look!
Apparently, about a dozen of the endangered critters are swimming up the San Gabriel river, attracted by the warmth from the powerplant that uses the river to cool its generators.
Read the article here.
Presumably, the turtles are hanging out in the soft-bottomed estuarine portion of the river (south of PCH), and not going into the concrete-lined freshwater portions (pictured below):
I have never seen turtles in the San Gabriel River, but now that I know they are there, I'll be sure to look!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Los Cerritos Wetlands--what's new?
Wedding venues and wedding vendors
I haven't yet written up a post for the Los Cerritos wetlands, in east Long Beach, because access to this site is restricted, and I haven't yet had the opportunity.
But I have been keeping abreast of the news concerning this parcel, perhaps the only original wetland remaining in Long Beach (certainly the only one of any significant size).
Located on the Cerritos Channel (a tributary of the San Gabriel River), the Los Cerritos Wetlands are the subject of great controversy. The current ownership is a patchwork of city and state agencies, although the balance is privately held by the Bixby Company. The wetlands themselves are off-limits to development.
The fate of the upland areas, however, are in jeopardy. These areas are, of course, former wetlands. And there are plans to restore the marsh to recreate a portion of the extensive marshes that once existed in southeast Long Beach and northern Orange County. This project would rival in scale the restoration of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, and represent perhaps the only opportunity for such a large-scale wetland restoration.
The Home Depot has other plans, of course. They would like to build a large store in the center of these wetlands.
Supporters of the project point out that there currently no large hardware stores in the City of Long Beach, convienently ignoring the two Home Depots and the Lowe's Hardware in Signal Hill (that munchkin to our city donut). No Long Beach resident has to drive more than three miles to one of these stores. (Don't believe me? Check out this map on google.)
Our City Council supports this project, of course. Even though Long Beach residents have many nearby big-box stores to patronize, the sales taxes (an important source of revenue since Prop 13 dried up revenue from property taxes) go to Signal Hill, not us. Even our normally progressive and environmentally foreward thinking councilmembers (I'm specifically referring to 2nd District rep Suja Lowenthall here) voted to support the draft Environmental Impact Report. This joke of a document claimes to find "less than signfiicant" impacts to noise, traffic, aesthetics, historic resources, and natural resources. (Access the documents here.)
Fortunately, the California Coastal Commission isn't buying it. Staff at the Commission ruled that by accepting the EIR, the City allowed this area, zoned for industrial uses (it's currently a tank farm for oil extraction), allowed commercial development and violated open space requirements determined by the Local Coastal Program. If the Commission accepts the staff's findings (which they often do, unless outside pressure is applied), they will have to draft a new EIR mitigating loss to biological and other resources.
Read about it in the Press Telegram here.
I haven't yet written up a post for the Los Cerritos wetlands, in east Long Beach, because access to this site is restricted, and I haven't yet had the opportunity.
But I have been keeping abreast of the news concerning this parcel, perhaps the only original wetland remaining in Long Beach (certainly the only one of any significant size).
Located on the Cerritos Channel (a tributary of the San Gabriel River), the Los Cerritos Wetlands are the subject of great controversy. The current ownership is a patchwork of city and state agencies, although the balance is privately held by the Bixby Company. The wetlands themselves are off-limits to development.
The fate of the upland areas, however, are in jeopardy. These areas are, of course, former wetlands. And there are plans to restore the marsh to recreate a portion of the extensive marshes that once existed in southeast Long Beach and northern Orange County. This project would rival in scale the restoration of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, and represent perhaps the only opportunity for such a large-scale wetland restoration.
The Home Depot has other plans, of course. They would like to build a large store in the center of these wetlands.
Supporters of the project point out that there currently no large hardware stores in the City of Long Beach, convienently ignoring the two Home Depots and the Lowe's Hardware in Signal Hill (that munchkin to our city donut). No Long Beach resident has to drive more than three miles to one of these stores. (Don't believe me? Check out this map on google.)
Our City Council supports this project, of course. Even though Long Beach residents have many nearby big-box stores to patronize, the sales taxes (an important source of revenue since Prop 13 dried up revenue from property taxes) go to Signal Hill, not us. Even our normally progressive and environmentally foreward thinking councilmembers (I'm specifically referring to 2nd District rep Suja Lowenthall here) voted to support the draft Environmental Impact Report. This joke of a document claimes to find "less than signfiicant" impacts to noise, traffic, aesthetics, historic resources, and natural resources. (Access the documents here.)
Fortunately, the California Coastal Commission isn't buying it. Staff at the Commission ruled that by accepting the EIR, the City allowed this area, zoned for industrial uses (it's currently a tank farm for oil extraction), allowed commercial development and violated open space requirements determined by the Local Coastal Program. If the Commission accepts the staff's findings (which they often do, unless outside pressure is applied), they will have to draft a new EIR mitigating loss to biological and other resources.
Read about it in the Press Telegram here.
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