people cleaning banks of L.A. River
Glendale / Los Angeles

Cleaning the Los Angeles River after El Nino storms swept through

by carollightwood
crowd of peoploe cleaning Los Angeles River
Crowds of people stepped from rock to rock across to a small island mid-river. A few ventured into the new grasses that had sprung up on the island. A little further downstream others removed plastic bags swept downriver by winter storms. In the background is the I5 bridge that spans the river and makes for a very very noisy atmosphere.

Saturday, April 16th, 2016 was Day One of a 3 day clean-up of the L.A. River.  It began at the upper end of L.A. River, including the Tujunga Wash, the Sepulveda Basin and the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk and Bette Davis picnic area.  And ended near Long Beach where the river flows into the harbor.

Hundreds of enthusiastic supporters of the Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) turned out at the Glendale Narrows and were given T-shirts, gloves and plastic bags, then set loose to remove debris from river banks and islands.

For whatever it is worth, this part of the river is bracketed by the Dreamworks facility at one end and a Disney Interactive building at the other end.

Boy Scouts from La Crescenta
A troop of Boy Scouts from nearby La Crescenta were part of the L.A. River cleanup crew.

This coming Saturday FoLAR will tackle cleanup in the middle section of the 51 mile long river; the Saturday after that the cleanup will be on the lower river.  For details go to Friends of the Los Angeles River.

Regrowth Los Angeles River
New plants are springing to life on an island swept bare this winter by rain runoff at the Glendale Narrows.
storm damage and debris at Glendale Narrows
Damage and debris after a winter storm swept floods downstream through the Glendale Narrows.
two frightened ducks L.A. River cleanup
Ducks and geese nest on the islands and were frightened by all the people. They didn’t go too far away, however, so their nests must have eggs in them. I hope they survived the influx of people.

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