Tour Ballona Wetlands Today: Friends of Ballona Wetlands conducting tours today, Sunday November 10th.

The public is invited to tour areas of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve today, Sunday, November 10th.  Staff of the Friends' and L.A. Audubon will guide you on an easy and informative tour of the saltmarsh and dunes on Sunday.  Friends of Ballona Wetlands access to the saltmarsh is under special permit from the California Coastal Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Saltmarsh and Dunes tour begins at 1 PM on Sunday, November 10 at the parking lot behind Gordon's Market, 303 Culver Boulevard in Playa del Rey.  The tour lasts about two hours (though you can leave early if you wish).

The Saltmarsh and Dunes are part of the last undeveloped remnants of the original historic Ballona Wetlands complex.  Though bisected by roads, a historic railroad right-of-way and the Ballona Creek Flood Control Channel, the Saltmarsh remains at its original 2-foot elevation, which enables incoming tides to flood the landscape.  This twice-daily ebb and flow of ocean water supports a unique assemblage of plants and animals dependent on regular tidal flushing. Wetland areas north of Ballona Creek were buried by soil dredge from Marina del Rey construction in the 1960s, and are too high in elevation (around 15 feet) to receive the incoming tides.  The state's coming restoration of this area to tidal wetland will require excavation and relocation of 1-3 million cubic yards of dredged soil in order to restore the tidal wetland that formerly existed there.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

www.ballonafriends.org