Updated April 2020

Activists fought for over twenty years to save the rare freshwater habitat of Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, home to many endangered and imperiled species. Now the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) plans to bulldoze the Ballona Wetlands and flood it with saltwater, which will kill the plants and animals who live there. We can’t let this happen!

Instead of restoring the freshwater habitat, the CDFW intends to create a full tidal saltwater bay, which Ballona Wetlands has not been for thousands of years. Its plans include demolishing existing levees and bulldozing out a massive embayment resulting in the destruction of habitat that currently is in equilibrium and supports many species of endangered and imperiled species such as Belding’s Savannah sparrow, Lewis’ evening primrose, burrowing owl, and California legless lizard. The plan would destroy underlying freshwater aquifers and allow for polluted upstream water and trash to be released into this fragile ecosystem.  

So far, the CDFW has already damaged the Ballona Wetlands by renting the land to the film industry and allowing groundwater to be diverted away from the wetlands. The proposed bulldozing will destroy shelter and food sources for seven endangered species and dozens of other imperiled species, while spending untold millions of public dollars. CDFW has not provided any hydrology studies of Ballona showing the multiple underlying freshwater aquifers that will be destroyed with saltwater inundation and drainage into the Santa Monica Bay. 

Here is a list of species that reside at the Ballona Wetlands prepared by the Ballona Institute and Sierra Club with assistance from naturalist/photographer Jonathan Coffin.

Review the full Draft Environmental Impact Report on Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve from the California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.

What YOU Can Do:

Save the Ballona Wetlands and support local activists by sending our letter, by filling out the form on the right-hand side of this page, to these people and agencies responsible for the fate of the animals who call the Ballona Wetlands their home.