HEALTHY HABITATS

Our Healthy Habitats work seeks to achieve ecosystem health and resiliency for all the region’s waters so they can support the communities and wildlife that depend on them. While elimination of ongoing pollution is a necessary step to ensure the health of our waterways and communities, we must also undo the decades of damage that pollution, overfishing, overdevelopment and habitat loss have wrought on our rivers, creeks and coastal waters. According to the State Water Board, the vast majority of LA’s waterways are impaired – which means that Angelenos cannot safely swim, fish, surf, or dive in them, and we won’t see wildlife thrive there. 

As a result of a century of overdevelopment, the vast majority of the region’s rivers and creeks have been transformed from living ecosystems that can be the centerpiece of thriving communities into concretized flood channels that become super-highways of pollution. We have decimated our wetlands, where it is estimated that Southern California has lost 90 percent of its coastal wetlands, and other natural systems. And our coastal waters – decimated by loss of natural habitat like kelp beds and sea grasses, introduction of harmful invasive species, overfishing from commercial and recreational outfits, pollution, and now the scourge of climate change – is at its tipping point. According to a 2015 WWF study, the amount of fish in the oceans has halved since 1970, with some populations having declined by 75%, putting our marine environment is on the "brink of collapse".  

Through Healthy Habitat’s, LA Waterkeeper seeks to undo the harms done and restore our coastal and riparian habitats through research, fieldwork, community engagement, broad-based coalition building and regulatory and legal advocacy and policy work. The programs integrated projects provide community members – especially those living in historically underserved communities – the tools necessary to take ecological health and human use assessments, address pollution in their waterways, and make their voices heard as LA County addresses its water resource and pollution challenges. All of these efforts aim to improve the health and safety of our communities and encourage shared stewardship of our environment.

LA River

In a County that spans 88 cities and has more than 10 million residents, the Los Angeles River (LA River) traverses 51 miles from its headwater to the ocean. The ancestral River of the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, the Chumash peoples, and the Kizh Nation, this freshwater habitat is part of an 834 sq-mile watershed that today weaves through the region's diverse inland and coastal communities.

Today, the LA River is almost entirely concretized, mostly inaccessible, and a superhighway for pollutants collected in urban runoff and stormwater discharges, which are released untreated into the Pacific Ocean. Despite the channelization and concretization, some more natural sections of the River remain. The LA River is critical for maintaining the biodiversity imperative to our health and survival, achieving climate resiliency, and promoting greater community health and equity. LA Waterkeeper, alongside other environmental organizations, environmental justice groups, tribes, and local communities, is committed to an LA River that prioritizes natural climate solutions and multi-beneficial habitat balanced with LA's urbanism. 

From 2018-20, LA Waterkeeper's River Assessment Fieldwork Team (RAFT) program provided community members with opportunities to learn first-hand about the health of the Los Angeles River watershed through ecological analysis. We educated the community on collecting critical baseline data and gaining tools to advocate for a healthier LA River watershed. The program started in response to ongoing river revitalization efforts that have failed to prioritize the River's ecology and the community's connection with it. In 2018 and 2019, more than 100 community members were trained in the California Rapid Bioassessment Protocol to monitor water quality, habitat quality, and biological integrity at eight sites along the LA River and its tributaries. The RAFT report contains our program findings that emphasize the need to maximize the River's ecological health while ensuring equitable community stabilization and climate resiliency measures and underscoring the need for a holistic and coordinated planning approach to LA River management. 

Much like what happened when the River's path was (literally) cemented a century ago, several decisions made over the coming years will alter the future of the River and neighboring communities for generations to come. While the LA River Master Plan Update and related EIR are still in draft form, this adoption is slated for 2022. Alongside our partners, we are actively fighting to take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the future of the River and adjacent communities to be healthier and more resilient. We must take action, or current and future generations will lose the opportunity to access a healthy river and benefit from equitable community stabilization and climate resiliency measures.

Creeks 2 Coast Cleanups

California has a severe trash problem; over 700,000 pounds of plastic and other trash were removed from our beaches alone during the state's annual Coastal Cleanup Day. Eighty percent of marine pollution starts on land, making its way through our watersheds, out to sea. Currently, 73 of California's waterways are considered impaired by trash, seriously impacting our environment and endangering wildlife who may ingest or become entangled in this waste. The plastic waste polluting our waterways is of particular concern. It is predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Plastic breaks down into tiny pieces, known as microplastics, that can stay in the environment for decades, polluting our water and harming fish and wildlife that mistake it for food. 

LA Waterkeeper addresses the issue through our Creeks 2 Coast Cleanups. We have plenty of different opportunities for community members to learn about the impact of human consumption on the planet and encourage behavior change that will ultimately reduce negative externalities on our environment and the life that depends on it. At the individual level, you can help lead cleanups across the region as a C2C Crew Member or participate in a decentralized C2C Cleanup Challenge, where you can clean your local environment from a distance while collecting important data. Or if you are a corporate group looking to engage employees or a community member wanting to host a large, private event? We got you covered.

However you decide to engage in our Creeks 2 Coast Cleanup program, you will help LA Waterkeeper reduce the amount of waste that enters our waters, collect critical data on plastic pollution, and improve the health of Los Angeles's watershed.

MPA Watch

A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is an ocean area where consumptive human activities, such as fishing, are limited or restricted to protect or conserve marine life or habitats. As the first on-the-water MPA Watch program in California, and the only source of on-the-water data in Los Angeles, the program is critical to preventing illegal fishing, and ensuring these precious habitats are protected and preserved for all to enjoy. Through MPA Watch, we gather critical on-the-water data to enhance and support the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in the management and enforcement of our regional MPAs; increase community use and sharing of that data; educate and engage community members across LA to build long-term awareness and support of MPAs, and collaborate with partners throughout California to expand and enhance the effectiveness of our MPA’s.

Although MPAs are meant to safeguard and restore local habitats and aquatic species, the MPAs along the Southern California coast remain vulnerable to the effects of noncompliance and water pollution flowing from inland waterways. Since COVID-19 hit, we've seen a dramatic increase in the harvesting of marine life from our ecologically vulnerable tide pools and MPAs, adding more urgency to our critical work protecting these habitats. The economic downturn and ensuing high unemployment, combined with less CDFW presence and enforcement, have threatened to undermine all the advances made in enhancing marine ecosystem health. As the region’s leading on-the-water watchdog, LA Waterkeeper is redoubling our efforts to track and report increased poaching of fish, lobster, abalone, and other wildlife currently being scoured from protected areas and otherwise fragile ecosystems.

We bring more than 300 volunteers on board every year to collect critical data that helps improve the management of these “underwater parks” and to provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences on the water. We are proud that this program promotes coastal access for students, underserved youth, volunteers, and Angelenos of all stripes! While we will be operating this program primarily without volunteers, until it is safe to do so under evolving COVID-19 public health guidelines, this critical work is more important than ever.

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