Spiny Rush ~ A Beautiful, Strong Plant that Changes with Time ~ Part II: Learning about Native Plants (& more!) from Community-engaged Restoration

Nature Notes:  

an occasional column describing the beauty and wonder of nature on the Los Angeles coast, especially focused on the greater Ballona Wetlands Ecosystem 

by Marcia Hanscom

One of the more iconic native plants that is associated with a marsh is the Spiny Rush ~ Juncus Acutus ~ (think Moses & the Bullrushes.) 

While there are numerous kinds of bulrushes, this particular species is native to our southern California region and is visually quite beautiful, helping a restoration site or a native plant garden sport a “bouquet” look. 

An earlier restoration to the south of Ballona Wetlands’ Grand Canal Lagoon, at the Ballona Lagoon Marine Preserve, included many of these plants, and neighbors, as well as visitors comment often about how “pretty” the area is – in large part because of this plant dominating the plant palette.  

Therefore, when community planning ensued for the Grand Canal Lagoon restoration, this species was determined to be a “must use.” 

Seeds were collected from the plants growing at Ballona Lagoon Marine Preserve, and the plants were grown in a nursery until the City and its financial partner ~ Lennar ~ were ready to begin the project.

Next came the surprise, although it was not an isolated situation.  Lennar filed for backruptcy in Spring of 2009, selling off the development adjacent to the Grand Canal Lagoon restoration site, and along with it, their commitment to improve the community by finishing “Phase One” of a long-awaited restoration effort.   

Before the bankruptcy, Lennar had paid for a significant planning effort, including hiring a restoration planning expert, as well as a public access team to suggest alternatives and forge a path forward.   Lennar had also dedicated a 10 ft. easement on their property that would include a walking path, leaving more of the natural soils available for restoration.  In addition, they had already built a decomposed-granite walk path on that easement and installed a woodcrete (recycled concrete) fence to distinguish between the public path and the restoration area for nature’s healing.

Lennar had not been an uncommitted partner.  In fact, they’d embraced involvement with this project, as they knew that the beautification that would come with restoration would increase the values of the homes they planned on selling once they were built.  But the stock market downturn of fall, 2008, had hit many businesses, as well as individuals hard.  

The new owner, Sunbrook, was not as invested in the project – with their primary goal being to turn a profit on a property that was fast losing money.   The problem Ballona Institute saw was that 10,000 native plants – a more than $100,000 investment in seed & cutting collecting, as well as growing – were about to be trashed and the restoration would be placed on hold for an undetermined amount of time.  We could not let that happen.

So we went to then-LA City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl and his office to say we would figure out a way to move forward.   We would need his help, as he had pledged to provide in the past, and we would also need the assistance of the Mayor’s office, which Rosendahl’s office said they could assist with.

We called in two top representatives of the new owner for a meeting, and I made the pitch.  

“The work HAS to be done,” I said, “We’ve promised the community this enhancement for their quality of life for too long, and we do not want to see the work or financial investment made to date go to waste.” 

Ballona Institute would put some of our other programs on hold and recruit volunteers from the community, supervise them, implement the project and agree to do the monitoring for the coastal development permit, which had already been granted.   All we would ask is a modest amount of funds to pay for the supplies necessary to carry out the project and some outreach funding.   It would cost less than 10% of what Lennar had committed to and Sunbrook was unwilling to fund if they hired a “professional” company to undertake the restoration work.

I held my breath as we waited to hear what Sunbrook would do.

“OK,” Michael said.  “It seems we do have an obligation to do something there, but if we’d had to pay the amount Lennar was planning on spending, we’d have to wait until we built some units and the project would be stalled.  I understand it’s in all of our best interests to keep the momentum up, so let’s do it.”

I felt so grateful.  We wouldn’t lose all of those plants.  10,000 native plants!   $100,000 saved!   Now, we had to go to work fast, and we did. 

But back to the Spiny Rush, which arrived with numerous other species beginning in September.   They arrived in 4” pots, and like many of the plants we took delivery of, were getting root bound, as they were originally scheduled for delivery in the spring (although that was really the wrong time of year for planting native plants in southern California!) – and so one of the first things our volunteers did besides getting the soil ready for planting was to re-pot the plants into bigger pots so they could last during the ensuing months that it would take for volunteers to carefully plant our rescued treasures.

One of the things we learned about the Spiny Rush was that this plant was an important one for the Tongva First Nation people who lived in this area before the European invasion. 

Last year, native elder Cindi Alvitre brought a class from Otis Design School to Del Rey Lagoon at the southern end of the lagoon that once stretched from where Grand Canal is now at the north through the Marina Peninsula and across the channels to Playa del Rey.

She demonstrated how these baskets were made for her class at the request of Ballona Institute’s biologist, Roy van de Hoek, who has a sincere interest in native culture, has professional experience as an archaeologist for the federal government and who worked with Cindi when he managed the nature center for LA County on Catalina Island. 

Spiny Rush, while it starts out as most plants do, as delicate seedlings, and then delicate young plants, becomes a hearty, strong anchor plant for any restoration effort or garden, and seeds are bountiful each fall for collecting and growing the next generation.   For this reason, it is often selected for native plant gardens, as well as for restorations of areas where it historically grew.

If you have a low area in your garden where water will collect or an actual water feature and are looking for a plant species that will keep out numerous intruders due to its sharp end points, Spiny Rush would be a good consideration.   You might even receive a rebate* from LADPW if you are considering removing exotic, nonnative grass or other vegetation that requires water now.   Once the Spiny Rush is rooted (just a few months generally), the plant will need no water beyond what the rainfall brings, as it evolved to live in the semi-arid conditions of Los Angeles.

*for info about how you can even receive up to $4,000 for converting your water-hogging lawn or exotic landscape to a more environmentally-friendly alternative, check out this rebate site from the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power - LADWP: 

https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/wcnav_externalId/r-cs-newsletr-cafriendly-incentive?_adf.ctrl-stat...

© 2013, Marcia Hanscom & Ballona Institute