At a packed Culver City Council meeting on December 12th, several local Girl Scouts and student leaders from local schools were among the many young people who spoke persuasively in support of BCR’s proposed single-use polystyrene food container and cutlery ban! And Culver City High’s BCR Club presented this short video.

At its December 6th holiday celebration dinner, BCR honored and thanked Bobbi Gold and Gerald Sallus for their many years of excellent volunteer service. On behalf of the board and advisory council, President Emeritus Jim Lamm presented personalized framed certificates of appreciation to both Bobbi and Gerry. Bobbi Gold – Founding Board Member,

BCR is pleased to refer you to this new website:  http://wetlandsrestoration.org/.  Here are a few details from the Friends of Ballona Wetlands blog: “In a unique collaborative effort, Friends of Ballona Wetlands, Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, and Los Angeles Waterkeeper developed a comprehensive, scientific set of principles for wetland restoration projects in Southern California

On a beautiful Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD), Saturday, September 17, Ballona Creek Renaissance about 60 volunteers gathered at Overland Avenue to help clean along the creek while doing a little needed landscape work. Led by Site Captain Deb Gregory with assistance by other BCR leaders and the Culver City High

On Saturday-Sunday, August 27-28, at BCR’s Fiesta La Ballona booth on Saturday afternoon (8/27), kids and adults enjoyed creating some wonderful bird-and-butterfly-themed art led by BCR’s Lucy Blake-Elahi and Irene Reingold. On Sunday, Lucy Edward engaged kids and adults in our matching quiz game to identify Ballona plants and waterbirds. And

As the year-long CC100 celebration begins this month, BCR also celebrates the creek’s historic role in the region as well as Culver City. Prior to the city’s incorporation in 1917, the creek provided sustenance for the Tongva/Gabrielino Native Americans, rancheros from Mexico and Spain, forty-niners, farmers, realtors, and—yes—filmmakers! In or along Ballona Creek or its

On Thursday morning, July 7th, BCR enjoyed participating in an REI and Heal the Bay-led kayak and canoe adventure along Ballona Creek with other local enronmental organizations. Paddling upstream about 2.75 miles with the rising tide from the old boat launch next to the Pacific Avenue bridge, we reached the end of

In a busy summer, BCR also enjoyed participating in Culver Expo 2016, a mini-native plant workshop and demonstration at the Culver City Garden Club Show and Sale, an after-school creek cleanup with Culver City Girl Scouts (pictured) , and preparing for future CC100 BCR activities. Here are just a few

On Wednesday, May 12, 2016, the Del Rey Neighborhood Council (DRNC) approved with conditions preliminary plans for Del Rey Pointe, a proposed multi-story residential development on privately owned land at the confluence of the Ballona Creek estuary and the Centinela Creek channel just west of the I-90 Marina Freeway overcrossing.

On a sunny April 16th Saturday morning, State Senator Ben Allen-SD26 (pictured), Ballona Creek Renaissance and Culver City High’s BCR Club welcomed volunteers of all ages in a fun and productive Earth Month creek cleanup along the estuary in Del Rey, where the inland water and incoming tide meet. Although we have a small afterschool cleanup

On April 26, BCR’s Irene Reingold (pictured), June Walden, and Jim Lamm enjoyed a fun morning teaching two sessions of about 30 3rd-graders each, touching on watershed, creek, wildlife, native americans, and what we can do to help. Following a short BCR video and slide presentation, June’s hands-on watershed demonstration

Congressman Ted Lieu (CA-33) has introduced new legislation to explore the expansion of the Santa Monica National Recreation Area southward along the coast to the Palos Verdes peninsula and inland along Ballona Creek through the wetlands to the Baldwin Hills. On a beautiful March 31st morning in the Ballona Freshwater Marsh,

At 9am, Friday, February 5, community members, students, elected officials, and others gathered to dedicate this long-awaited creekside park. Flanked by the bike path and Ballona Creek on one side and Milton Street and Marina Del Rey Middle School on the other, the new park is a beautiful, environmentally smart,

On Wednesday afternoon, February 3rd, an enthusiastic group of SGN employees joined BCR and Culver High BCR Club leaders to collect creekside trash at Centinela just downstream from the Centinela Avenue bridge. Led by SGN co-founders Chris DeWolfe, CEO, and Josh Yguado, President/COO (in cap and tee in center of

At its January 26th board meeting, BCR honored two special long-time volunteers, Lucy Edward and former board member June Walden. BCR Presdent Amy Rosenstein and BCR President Emeritus Jim Lamm presented June (pictured next to Amy) and Lucy (next to Jim) with personalized certificates of appreciation, which highlighted the varied

On January 23, over 65 volunteers joined LA Audubon and BCR at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park for a morning of native plant restoration at this breathtaking site! With everyone’s help, we moved closer to the day when wildlife and native plants will once again flourish on this spectacular

We are sad to report that significant vegetation has been removed from the sloped banks of Ballona Creek just downstream from Centinela Avenue. As most of you know, this location along the soft bottom tidal estuary has been a special place for volunteers and wildlife. While the vegatation included many

On October 26, the City of Culver City recognized BCR, the Culver City High School BCR Club, and other local organizations for their diligent work in cleaning up Ballona Creek on the anual Coastal Cleanup Day, September 19. Accepting an award certificate for BCR were several BCR board members; BCR

BCR was pleased to have a booth at the vibrant Del Rey Day community event in Glen Alla Park in Del Rey on October 18. As usual, We brought our displays and literature about what we do to protect and promote Ballona, along with knowledgeable volunteers. In the photo, Culver

September 26 was the 7th annual Volunteer Day for all UCLA incoming freshmen and transfer students. They joined continuing undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and community members to visit more than 40 sites across greater Los Angeles. Volunteers served at K-12 schools, food banks, parks, shelters, veterans’ facilities,

BCR participated in this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day, which is the third Saturday of September every year, when ocean and creek cleanups are organized all along the coast of California. In the L.A. area, Heal the Bay organizes cleanups at over 50 sites, including not just beaches but also some

This conference, held once every five years, offers presentations of research and discussions by professionals about issues concerning Santa Monica Bay and its watersheds. It’s presented by the Bay Foundation, The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, and Loyola Marymount University (LMU). This year’s edition, held on September 9, was sponsored

The last weekend in August is the occasion of Culver City’s annual big party in the park at the Veteran’s Memorial complex. The 2015 edition was warm, but a breeze helped keep the event comfortable, as did numerous vendors of food and drinks. BCR created its usual educational booth, with

On August 28-29, Culver City Public Works created an attractive rain garden in the parkway along Lindblade Street at the corner of Sepulveda Blvd in Culver City. Heavy equipment was used to install the infrastructure on the first day; the following day, community volunteers finished up by planting various drought-tolerant

In today’s parlance, an “Ocean-Friendly” Garden is one that greatly reduces or eliminates the negative environmental effects of our grass lawns and gardens full of flowering plants from other areas with wetter climates. Several major local environmental organizations and public agencies have been subsidizing homeowner efforts to create gardens that