Defend Ballona Wetlands Public Awareness & Legal

Hi ~ My name is Marcia Hanscom, and I'm one of the key organizers in the effort to protect and defend the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve from a destructive bulldozing project that would obliterate home and food for thousands of birds and other animals. The project is being touted - falsely - as a "restoration" - but it is not.

More than 2.5 million cubic yards of precious, life-filled soils would be disturbed; grasslands, marshlands and trees now storing and sequestering carbon would be wiped off of the landscape, and surrounding communities would be subject to increased flood risk because part of the project would demolish the Ballona Creek levees - the sides of the river that prevent the rain and ocean waters from flooding our homes, businesses and roads.

7 endangered species are relying on the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, and more than 2 dozen species on the California List of Species of Special Concern or Special Animals list also rely on Ballona. Yet, the plans are to remove the habitat relied on by these animals (and hundreds of acres of native plant assemblages) - and to start over. That's not how a wetlands ecosystem works.

What Ballona needs is TLC, and some time to heal. In fact, since the land was acquired by the public, several endangered species have returned without any bulldozers helping them out. Bulldozers do not help when brought into a natural ecosystem. They, in fact, harm.

We've been educating the community for awhile, but things are heating up with federal approvals being sought by those who are in a misguided attempt to have their way with this sacred land.

Please help us raise the money we need to educate the community, to organize people to show up for important hearings and to do the legal research needed to defend this special place. We also need funds to support the legal research needed to support our lawyers, as well as to pay some of our legal fees for the lawsuits challenging this destructive project. Please donate today! We are so grateful people like you care, and your donation will be received with appreciation for your commitment.