By Cindy Hardin, Director of Outdoor Education | Photos by Leslie Davidson

Visual reminders that fall has arrived are in abundance right now. The low angle of the sun causes the ocean to look especially sparkly, daylight hours are diminishing, and bird species that have not been seen for months are returning for their winter residence in Southern California. Ballona Creek and its banks are populated with new arrivals.

Sighted on today’s bike ride up the creek were wigeons bobbing at the confluence of Centinela and Ballona creeks. Western Grebes paddled placidly just west of the Lincoln Bridge. Black-bellied Plovers nestled on the banks of Ballona Creek amongst the rocks, closer to the ocean.

But there is one bird that has recently returned that always reminds me of a dear friend, and mentor, who literally changed the course of my life. Barbara Courtois was the coordinator of the Environmental Education Program at Ballona when I first became a volunteer at the wetlands, in 1999. She would proudly tell you that she was a “lifelong learner”. It was my good fortune to know her and learn from her not only about birding, and what birds can teach us, but also a way of looking at and appreciating the natural world in a whole new way. One of Barbara’s favorite birds was the White-crowned Sparrow. This species of sparrow is a true harbinger of Fall, and one of the last of migratory birds to arrive in our region, and Barbara loved them. I, on the other hand, responded to their arrival with some melancholy, as their presence meant that my favorite season, summer, was truly, truly over. Barbara and I would laugh at the disparity in our responses to the sighting of this very active, quite charismatic little bird. We never did share the same emotion regarding the return of the White-crowned Sparrows, but we reached lots of common ground in our friendship.

I could not have asked for a better instructor to introduce me to the world of birding. She was never dismissive of any sighting-a commonly seen species like the Northern Mockingbird was never “just a Mockingbird” — it was an exciting sight. Barbara taught me about avian behavior, and its meaning. Those American Wigeons on the Creek are not just here to feast on aquatic vegetation during the winter months. The males are also displaying eye-catching courtship behaviors in hopes of partnering with a female before the trip north in the Spring. The Western Grebes are lurking in the coastal waters, looking for the topsmelt and anchovies that will soon be abundant due to seasonal upwelling of the nutrient rich, colder ocean currents that marks our winters. And the Black-bellied Plovers are patiently awaiting the winter rains that will flood the Ballona Salt Panne and activate their food source of invertebrates that have been encysted and dormant during the dry months. Barbara showed me that the presence of any particular wildlife or plant gave information about not only the time of year, but also the environment.

I also learned from Barbara to appreciate the beauty and value of native habitat. I must admit, that when I first returned to Los Angeles after a 10-year residence in cold, foggy San Francisco, I could not wait to fill my yard with introduced subtropical plants like the showy Hibiscus. My goal was to create a visual tropical paradise. Not surprisingly, my endeavors required a lot of maintenance and water! Through Barbara’s eyes I gained appreciation for the more subtle beauty of our native coastal sage scrub habitat, and saw its value in providing forage and home for native birds and insects. As soon as I started to replace introduced plants with sagebrush, lupine and willow, my yard became much more alive with local birds and interesting butterflies and spiders.

As I became more informed about the unique attributes of specific habitats, I also was made aware of the importance of preserving and enhancing the intact ecosystems that are still present, even here in the second largest city in the nation. Controversy about the fate of Ballona has been part of this coastal wetland for decades, and continues to this very day. And of course, Barbara not only provided insight into these controversies for me; she introduced me to the act of attending meetings as an advocate for the wetlands. And that we did, on numerous occasions. Sometimes we would celebrate decisions that were made about Ballona, and other times commiserate about comments or approaches about which we did not agree. Her guidance and encouragement gave me the confidence to research positions and facts, and to speak up verbally and in writing to those who make decisions about environmental issues at Ballona and beyond.

I also have Barbara to thank for expanding my knowledge through the annual trainings that she organized as part of the Ballona program. The start of the school year was always accompanied by a six weeks of docent education, featuring speakers with deep knowledge of Southern California nature. Local experts would visit us at the wetlands, and through lecture and hands-on demonstrations we would learn about the unique wetland ecosystem, and its importance to the natural hydrology of the Los Angeles Basin. Post-training, the hands-on learning would continue throughout the year during our field trip program, hosting thousands of local students annually at Ballona.

It was my great honor, after being Barbara’s ardent pupil for six years, that she ceded her duties as Program Coordinator to me. She continued to be an active volunteer at Ballona, and I continued to look to her for guidance and companionship in the day to day challenges of overseeing a robust education program. It was a great loss to me and the world when she passed away in 2011.

In that same year my duties with LA Audubon expanded to include overseeing a similar field trip program at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. My new responsibilities included working with and mentoring college students that worked as interns at Kenneth Hahn. Coincidence? Maybe. At any rate, I now have the opportunity to set an example, encourage and guide young people as they make their way into adult life and a career path, much as Barbara did for me. It is a task that I do not take lightly. One of my great joys is to see former interns move forward, and many of them keep me apprised of their progress. Writing reference letters for our LAAS alumni is also part of my job as they seek professional positions post college, and I love that part of my work.

In fact, mentoring is a huge part of what we do at the Los Angeles Audubon Society. In addition to the field trips, we have a program for high school students that is now in its 12th year, known as the Greenhouse Program. Coordinators help to guide and teach the students who are enrolled, and they in turn teach elementary students at the school yard habitats LAAS has established at Leo Politi and Esperanza Elementary Schools. We have partnered with West LA College to create a semester long class that not only teaches environmental science to those enrolled; we also include skill building sessions on topics like how to write a resume and interview for a job. We have a Summer Fellows work program that provides summer employment and more training, and is composed of young people who first became involved as interns or students of the West LA College Program. We practice what we preach. Our entire younger staff first came to know LA Audubon through the high school Greenhouse Program, and now, post-graduation from college, they are employees!

As I mentioned earlier, my mentor, Barbara, prided herself on being a lifelong learner. And no matter what your age, I feel we all need to keep learning, and often need guidance. To that end, in spite of the fact that we could not meet in person this year, we did create a Fall Docent Training Course using virtual technology. And we were lucky enough to be instructed by several local experts that generously shared their knowledge with us.

Ballona is always a hot topic amongst our group, as we are acutely aware its special qualities, due to time spent at the wetlands as volunteers. This year Dr. Margot Griswold, our Education Chair, spoke about Ballona and the State’s misguided ideas regarding “restoration” of the wetlands. Dr. Griswold made it clear that she disagrees with what is planned and why, based on her decades of experience implementing her restoration ecology knowledge at various sites in Southern California. Margot is our Ballona mentor!

The State favors an alternative that would destroy rare, existing, functional habitat, and create new, subtidal habitat. The amount of sub-tidal habitat in Southern California wetlands has actually increased by over 600%, due to so-called restorations at other wetland locations. Existing habitat that is already providing home for myriad species will be lost forever in the flooding that is the main component of this type of “restoration”. If this happens at Ballona, it would include much bulldozing and earth moving for the better part of a decade, and the destruction of functional habitats and ecosystems currently in place. New science and the fact that historically Ballona was primarily a closed estuary system has been ignored. A true hydrological study has never been done on the site, in spite of ample evidence that freshwater aquifers lay just below the surface of the Reserve. The destruction that will occur if the State’s plan goes forward will impact flow of fresh water, allow for saltwater incursion at increasingly rare freshwater seasonal wetlands found on the site, and negatively impact plants and animals at Ballona, some of which are federally recognized as endangered species.

The Final Environmental Impact Report has not yet been approved by the State. This means that there is still time for the public to push back on this so-called “restoration”, and advocate for new, science based, environmentally sensitive enhancement of the habitat that already exists at Ballona. And how to do that? Make your voice heard. Write letters to those involved in the decision-making process, like state agencies and politicians. Attend meetings at which Ballona is the subject, and use the public comment periods to express your opinion. As Barbara taught me many years ago, the first step in making a difference is showing up and becoming informed. We have a chance right now to create positive change for our local wetlands, and leave a legacy of a thriving habitat for future generations of plants, animals and people. Make some noise. The opportunity is now.

Published by Los Angeles Audubon Society, Western Tanager, Vol. 87 No. 2 November–December 2020.