Month: June 2018

Quick Mends: High Country News weighs in on LA River revitalization

In a gem of a piece, photographer Roberto (Bear) Guerra chronicles the species loss the LA River has suffered since being encased in concrete with photographs of specimens from the Western Foundation for Vertebrate Zoology and the LA County Natural History Museum.

An important photo essay as our city weighs the future of the river in terms of development and habitat restoration. A sample:

toad
Western Toad (Courtesy High Country News)

Western Toad (Bufo boreas) —  Perhaps no animal is as emblematic of the decline of native species in the decades following channelization as the western toad. One of the neighborhoods adjacent to the soft-bottom Glendale Narrows section of the river is still known as “Frogtown,” for the swarms of young toads and Pacific treefrogs that hopped through the streets each year until the 1970s. Today, toads and frogs are rarely to be found.

See you on the river, Jim Burns

Volunteer Opportunity: Lower Dark Canyon

Volunteers
Just over a year ago, 48 FedEx Cares volunteers did their part for the Native Trout Restoration Project in the San Gabriel Mountains. (Courtesy Arroyo Seco Foundation)

Greetings Trout Scouts!

We will to be scouting Lower Dark Canyon Trail next Tuesday morning and welcome you to join us. The trail follows one of the Arroyo’s tributaries that we suspect may provide rainbow trout habitat. It will be our first visit to this site, and at the very least we want to record barriers to fish passage and take photos of the creek. We may use other methods covered in the workshop depending on what we find.
 
Meeting Time and Location
Tuesday, June 26, at 8 a.m.
Dark Canyon Trail entrance on Angeles Crest Hwy
What to Bring
Water / snack
Sun protection (hat, sunblock, sunglasses)
Hiking shoes
Note-taking materials
Camera (optional)
Please let me know if you can make it.
Thank you!
Scott David Cher
Scott@arroyoseco.org

Rainbow Trout Restoration Project

 Arroyo Seco Foundation
570 W. Avenue 26, Suite 450
Los Angeles, California 90065-1011
(323) 405-7326

Earth Quotes: Edward Abbey

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Edward Abbey (Courtesy of Milkweed Editions)

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast … a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”