You’ve likely seen plenty of footage of the Los Angeles River — in Terminator 2, Grease, Drive… shall I go on? But unless you’ve poked around the famous watershed in a kayak, or travelled the path that runs alongside it by bike, you probably haven’t seen it like this.
Although most know the river best for its concrete banks, installed in the 1940s to mitigate catastrophic flooding, there are several “soft-bottom” corridors where the water meanders over rocks and spills into pools, creating a true riparian habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife. A $US1.3 billion plan to revitalize an 11-mile stretch of the river to these ecosystem-nurturing standards was approved today by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
It will take years, decades even, to restore all 52 miles of the river back to its natural state. But as this video produced by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti notes, this is an important first step towards that goal. [LA Mayors Office]