Location of Glendale Narrows: 400 Paula Avenue Glendale, CA 91201
Hours: 7am - dusk
Length of Riverwalk: .5 mi
It's hard to believe, living in LA, that we are actually living on a floodplain. The LA River once used to flow freely it's routes switching through different parts of Los Angeles county. Being on a floodplain, the river was prone to flooding (duh) and in the winters when there was a lot of rainfall, again hard to believe, the floods would get violent and dangerous for people in the area because there was no telling what part of the river would flood. The first inhabitants of the LA River were the Tongva, who had adapted to the seasonal flooding by moving to higher ground during the winters. These natives feed off of the land's resources of which included the steel headed trout. As mentioned in a post prior, the steel headed trout used to migrate through the arroyo seco and through the LA river but have since become locally extinct. In the late 1800s Los Angeles experienced a rapid growth in its population size which also increased demand for areas to live. Many settlers wanted to live on the land surrounding the river because it was ideal to grow their crops and thus decided to develop there despite a history of floods. After a series of devastating floods, the worst being the one of 1934 which claimed the lives of 49 people, destroyed 168 homes and caused 400 other homes to be non-livable, the settlers demanded means of flood control to ensure their safety. Thus began the construction of the extensive LA aqueduct. With the flood control system came channelization, which called for the cementation of all of the waterways in Los Angeles, as well as a total of 14 dams. Although interrupted by a flood in 1936, the construction of the system was finished by 1940. About 10% of the river was unable to be cemented on the bottom because of the rock bottom creating what is now referred to as the LA river's "soft bottom" areas. These areas are one of the only free growing parts of the river and allow insight as to what the river looked like prior to channelization.
The soft bottom area of the LA River that I visited is called the Glendale Narrows. Right off the 5 freeway, this river walk is product of recent restoration efforts by the city, the first part of 3. Now a community park, the river walk displays the river's free growing vegetation, hundreds of birds (mostly ducks) as well as efforts to plant native California flowers. The effects of channelization are probably the most obvious in this area. As you look at the riparian habitat you can see where the cement begins as all sign of life stops. Most likely combination of inability to support life from low dissolved oxygen levels as well as plants being unable to root themselves through the cement, the only signs of life for miles is the algae growing along the sides of the river and the birds that swim and walk along it.
Growing in the narrows are plants such as mulefat, giant reed which is invasive to the narrows and outcompetes many of the native plants, willows, sycamores, and cottonwood. You can also expect to see a variety of birds including many different duck species, common yellowthroat, and the western sandpiper.
[riparian habitat]
I actually conducted a water temperature test to see whether or not there was a difference in temperature between the soft bottom and cemented areas. Results : there was ! The soft bottom area, at 6pm when it was cloudy and getting cool, had dropped to about 71 degrees, whereas the cement had retained heat from earlier on in the day and was still at 76 degrees. A hotter water temperature means lower levels of oxygen in the water limiting the amount of life it can support, such could be a reason for example, that the steel headed trout became locally extinct, if there is not enough oxygen to support large amounts of fish they eventually die out.
[testing soft bottom water temperature]
[you can see the divide where the cement ends and soft bottom starts]
[the walk]
[territorial cormorant]
[I don't think I was supposed to be doing that - oops]
[ducks]
[she was posing]
[algae growing alongside the river in the cemented bottom]
[yay]
[hibiscus as we were leaving the park]
Sources of Information:
[http://la.curbed.com/tags/glendale-narrows-riverwalk]
[http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/public_works/BPP_GlendaleNarrowsRiverwalkPhaseII.aspx]
[http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/15/local/la-me-1216-riverwalk-20121216]
[http://folar.org]
[http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/12/tour_glendales_new_la_riverfreewayadjacent_linear_park.php#50dddb1ef92ea13a28004c64]
Get Involved: Volunteer with Friends of the LA River http://folar.org
Sign up for the LA River clean up 9-12 on
Saturday, April 26: Valley sites
Saturday, May 3: Glendale Narrows sites
Saturday, May 10: Lower River sites
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