Hahamongna Watershed Park
is facing its worst crisis ever. We must mobilize to stop it.
The LA County Department of Public Works plans to remove 2-4 million cubic yards of
sediment from behind Devil’s Gate Dam. They will dump the sediment in pits in Irwindale. The
project will take five years and will mean 425 trucks per day (that’s 50 trucks per HOUR)
driving through local neighborhoods and on the 210 freeway. The trucks will operate for nine
months or more per year, six days a week. Between 50-120 acres of riparian willow-mulefat
habitat will be permanently destroyed.
So what do we do?
Please write a letter commenting on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). Please copy
the letter to your County Supervisor, and, if you live in Pasadena or La Canada, your city
councilmember. If it helps, you can use the bullets below. Next year, when the final EIR is
released, attend the Supervisors public hearing on the subject. This will be critical.
SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE PROJECT:
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The biggest problem with this project is that it permanently destroys 50-120 acres of
regionally significant willow and mulefat forest. This habitat is critical for a wide variety
of birds, including nesting Yellow Warbler and ‘Least’ Bell’s Vireo, which is federally
endangered.
It creates a 55 ft. deep, bare, steep-sided pit near the dam and the DEIR states that there
will be "temporary restricted access to portions of designated trails." Currently birders
and walkers can cross the basin almost anywhere. How will we cross the lower basin?
425 diesel trucks per day, six days a week, and at least nine months per year. The county
has no plans to mitigate this. They say there is nothing they can do about the pollution or
noise. We find this to be unacceptable.
The DEIR found that "Recreation impacts were found to be less than significant.”
Really? PAS conducts its monthly bird walk in Hahamongna and has done so for years.
This project destroys most of the area where we conduct this walk. We conduct our
monthly bird walk here because of the biodiversity, something the County never
addresses. This is where you should tell your story about birding in Hahamongna.
The habitat mitigation is unacceptable. Riparian woodlands are the highest priority to
Resource Agencies and losses are routinely required to be replaced at a ratio of between
2:1 and 5:1; NOT 1:1 as proposed in the DEIR. Plus, much of the mitigation will take
place off-site, ie. not in Hahamongna. Agencies must mandate.
The project is unsustainable. The County STILL does not have a plan for where to put all
this sediment once these pits are full.
This will cost $100 million, $3-5 Billion county-wide.
SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE DEIR:
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The County never makes a science-based case for the need to remove 2-4 million cubic
yards of sediment. They never make the case for the need to remove it within five years.
The County never makes a case for the need to permanently clear-cut 50-120 acres of
willow-mulefat forest.
The biological section of the DEIR has serious flaws: it reports only 50 species of birds
for the basin while Pasadena Audubon reports over 206 (e-bird). The report claims no
nesting “species of special concern” Yellow Warblers while PAS has mapped many
singing males and photographed parents feeding young in the willow woodlands. The
report does not list all wildlife species expected to occur, only what few were seen. The
biologist did not consult with local organizations, like PAS, who regularly conduct
surveys in Hahamongna. Because the ‘Least’ Bell’s Vireo did not nest in 2013, the DEIR
does not see it as an issue. This federally endangered bird nested there in 2012.
WHAT THE COUNTY SHOULD DO INSTEAD:
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The County needs a “forever plan,” one that is sustainable and does not permanently
destroy one of the most important open spaces in the region.
We need basic regime change. The County needs to learn to work WITH nature, and to
think more like Aldo Leopold, who said:
"Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept
of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we
see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and
respect.” and
“Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as
what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity,
stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
The County is focused only on safety and efficiency. We want safety and sustainability.
Nature is a little messy, and that’s fine with us.
Tim Brick, Managing Director of the Arroyo Seco Foundation, has developed a four-part
solution: Go Slow, Go with the Flow, Let the Habitat Grow, and Keep Costs Low. To
learn more, go to You Tube and search for “Recipe for a Sustainable Sediment
Management Program for Hahamongna.” Or you can go to our website and look for the
link.
Please include your own story about birding in Hahamongna—what makes it important to you.
And please CC your letter to your County Supervisor and City Councilmember.
Mail to: County of Los Angeles
Department of Public Works
Water Resources Division
Attn: Reservoir Cleanouts Program
P.O.Box 1460
Alhambra, CA 91802-1460
or email: reservoircleanouts@dpw.lacounty.gov