The public has been invited to attend two community outreach meetings, regarding the County of Los Angeles’ proposed Devil’s Gate Reservoir sediment removal project.
The county aims make Devil’s Gate Reservoir more sustainable, protecting downstream communities from flooding, while maintaining, enhancing, and preserving areas within the reservoir to support recreation, open space, and an abundant native habitat.
The project has recently been faced with controversy, led primarily by the Pasadena Audubon Society.
In a media alert, released on July 6, the Audubon Society stated the following:
“LA County Flood Control District’s sediment mining and trucking program, popularly known as the ‘Big Dig’ program by opponents, would remove more than 2.4 million cubic yards of sediment and destroy over 70 acres of prime stream-zone habitat in the flood basin of the Arroyo Seco Canyon, at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Pasadena. Pasadena Audubon and the Arroyo Seco Foundation filed a lawsuit in December 2014 to force the county to reduce the environmental and neighborhood impacts of their sediment removal program.”
The Audubon Society’s primary concern with the sediment removal project is that it poses a direct threat to endangered bird species, which are native to the area in question. “Flood Control officials have quietly filed for a California Incident Take Permit that would allow them to kill endangered species such as the Least Bell’s Vireo and the Southwest Willow Flycatcher, two birds which are key indicators of habitat quality.”
Laura Garrett, conservation chair of the Pasadena Audubon chapter, added, “the county, in requesting authorization to ‘take’ Least Bells Vireos, admits that the Big Dig program will remove habitat where the Least Bell’s Vireo has been observed by Audubon Society members and that the sediment removal activities will likely kill nesting Least Bell’s Vireo, but they ignored this in their Environmental Impact Report for the project.”
Community outreach meetings will be held as follows:
– Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. – Rose Bowl Stadium, home locker room, 1001 Rose Bowl Drive.
– Saturday, July 16 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. – Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge, main room, 4469 Chevy Chase Drive.
