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Scoop.it!
Planning for rivers is one thing, but implementation is another as urbanisation and population growth increases. 
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Scoop.it!
Officials are moving ahead with a major revitalization of the Los Angeles River – removing miles of concrete along its banks and re-greening areas now covered with pavement. But the project raises an intriguing question: Just how much of an urban river can be returned to nature?
PIRatE Lab's insight:
We are well on our way to restoring the Los Angeles River. The only problem is that it will probably take 50 to 100 years. All the more reason to get going sooner rather than later. Lots of organizations are now behind this. In addition to all the enviro NGOS, we have the US Army Corps of Engineers, LA City, LA County, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, etc. in on the act. Good stuff.
Scoop.it!
When it comes to a battered environment, few places can match Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, an empire of weeds, trash and vagrant encampments surrounding a polluted lake crawling with nonnative snails as big as baseballs, voracious water snakes and snapping turtles.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This wetland is between Carson and San Pedro and in the floodplain o the LA River (before our massive destruction of that whole thing). This is one more small piece of a large jigsaw of efforts to piece together the stressed LA River ecosystem.
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For the first time since the Los Angeles River was channelized in the 1930s, the public will be welcomed to walk, fish, and kayak on a 2.5 mile portion of the L.A. River in Elysian Valley.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This is a great program that we have been foster for the last couple of years. It has built up momentum each year and is finally all grown up. Folks interested should sign up early as openings have filled quickly in recent years.
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Scoop.it!
Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present in water at a point in time. A new University of Washington study is the first to use these genetic markers to understand the impact urbanization has on the environment — specifically, whether animal diversity flourishes or suffers.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
eDNA is still in its infancy, so we need to be cautious with these insights.
Scoop.it!
Some interesting stories about nature and our relationship to nature in this edition.
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Elmer Avenue Projects: A Look Back over Six Seasons It’s now been over a year since the completion of the Elmer Paseo, a new, walkable alleyway that is designed to help water to soak into the aquifer. Even during the drought, the Paseo has weathered several storms, allowing us to test the system. The good news is that it is performing very well! Our researchers documented the Paseo during construction and over the past year. Lots of people, including students from Sun Valley Middle School, have been enjoying their new Paseo. The plant life, which is native to the Sun Valley Watershed, plays an important role in indicating the amount of water (or lack thereof) moving through the Paseo. The return of rain was a welcome restorative. The monitoring equipment in the Paseo and on Elmer Avenue are allowing us to gather data on water quantity and quality to better understand how the project is performing. We just took our first samples from the lysimeter beneath Elmer Avenue, thanks to the recent storm. This lysimeter was installed with help from the Water Replenishment District of Southern California. We’re testing the quality of the water that we’re putting in the San Fernando groundwater basin. The data will help us understand the success of the treatment train.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
One of our great urban renewal/bioswale examples here in Southern California.
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