Harbor Park Essays
© Mitch Heindel, 2005
#1
Although I surely was at the park many times before,
one of my earliest memories from the site was due to the
new car the family was in. It was March, 1964 and we drove
from Orange County to Harbor Park to go see some birds in
the funny smelling (new) vehicle to see how six fit in it compared
to the Rambler Station Wagon, despite the rain. Although people
looked at us funny, the window viewing was much improved
in the VW "van". We parked on the north side of Pacific Coast Hwy.,
on the west bank of the Wilmington Drain (the condos on the east
side of the drain weren’t there). It was a huge swampy marsh and
pond, absolutely loaded with birds. We could watch from the
VW van in the rain, and still be close to lots of stuff. I recall
asking my folks if they’d noticed there were two types of pale-backed
reddish-headed ducks in the flock of diving ducks feeding there.
At that moment, at eight-years old, I learned Redhead from Canvasback.
"So.Bay Snow" - "Willow Fuzz" (seeds)
key Goldfinch nest material
#2
Another early memory from the site was on an Orange County Audubon
Society field trip there. Their big fall trip was to "Harbor Park," led
by one of the all-time great birders, Jim Lane, the father of "where to
find ‘em’ guides." It was October 20, 1967 and the "park" wasn’t
one yet ... the west side of the lake along Vermont wasn’t lawn, rather
mostly mulefat, with scattered patches of huge willows and a few dirt
roads through it going to the lake. In one patch of willows, Jim found a
Blackpoll, an eastern vagrant warbler probably unknown in L.A. County
at the time. It was a "lifer" for almost everyone except him. We then
walked through the mulefat down the road to the lake. A warbler, unlike
any I'd seen, jumped in the mulefat and flitted across in front of Jim
and I (I got to be in front next to Jim.) It was bright yellow underneath,
green on back, with wingbars, a little streaking on the sides, but it got away.
We only bare-eyed it, but it was clearly something unusual. Jim put the word
out, and the next day Shirley Wells and Jay Sheppard refound the mystery
warbler, a Prairie!! Also unknown in the county then, and still the only
park record. We saw it but couldn’t count it because we didn’t ID it from
the views we had! Jim had found two new county warblers in one day at
the site! Such was the magic of Jim and "Harbor Park".
#3
Since those early days I’ve birded the park fairly regularly, and
I particularly studied here from ‘73 to ‘82. I left the state and
studied eastern birds from ‘82-’89, but upon my return found myself
haunting the park again. Over the last decade I’ve birded it intensively,
and have been a citizen advisor on the Park Advisory Board, at the
suggestion (insistence) of Ken Malloy, the late, great preservationist
who helped keep the park a public place.
I’ve seen many changes at the site, and in regards to the health and
well-being of the habitat and wildlife, darn few that have been positive.
The City of Los Angeles has yet to recognize what a goldmine
they have here and uses the riparian areas that are left to hide homeless
and trash. Out of sight, out of mind, eh? The last stand of natural forest
and the only natural lake with tule marsh that remains in the entire coastal
strip of the L.A. basin from Santa Monica to Long Beach, inland to the
L.A. River, is desecrated daily because the City of Los Angeles doesn’t care.
It’s not policed or patrolled, and virtually no rules are enforced.
Bird at your own risk, and I suggest carrying pepper spray.
How many places of a half square mile have 340 species recorded?
How many that have no environmental protection whatsoever? I can
think of several places with such lists illustrating by their diversity
their "bird magnet" value. Here in California, places like Pt. Loma in
San Diego, Furnace Creek in Death Valley, SE Farallon Is. or Pt. Reyes
near San Francisco, for instance, have this level of diversity.
However, all have the protection of National Monument, National Park,
State Park, or Refuge status. That is to say that the habitat has protection.
Not so at Harbor Park. There is no place in L.A. City or County that is so
attractive to so many species. It is the most important place to the most
species of any site in the City of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, this appears
to mean absolutely nothing to city officials.
Countless branches of City or County government have jurisdiction here,
and I doubt they have ever all sat down at one place and time. Each has
its own personal agenda, none of which include habitat or wildlife values.
At the current rate of decline in nesting species (e.g., habitat), over
33% in last 50 years, what will be left in 50 years? Will they look at
this list and say "Yeah, sure all this used to be here ..."? Unless the
management attitudes of the City change, there is little hope for the
birds or the habitat of Harbor Park.
I think if it were anywhere else it would be a protected refuge or park
with the habitat preciously guarded against the types of abuse this site
suffers on a daily basis by neglect of the city. Only in L.A. could
something of such value be treated like an unwanted step-child.
The golf course on the east side of the lake wanted to remove the willows
so the golfers would have a nicer view! They dump all the pesticide and
fertilizer-laced grass cuttings off the course into the wetland to
this day (8/Y2K)!
Public Works split the 10+ acre willow forest at the north end into two,
removing four acres of climax forest, as an issue of public safety, to
"increase water flow" a couple years ago. Now, without a canopy, the
undergrowth is several factors thicker, and water flow much less than it
was before they destroyed the integrity of the largest single patch of
historical native willow forest left along the coast. Had they just left
the old tall trees, the undergrowth would be a fraction of what it is now.
Yet these agencies have the power to destroy the habitat, even if it doesn’t
accomplish what they say it will. These types of displays of ignorance and
abuse are commonplace events here. Trash is no longer trash if it blows off
the lawn into the riparian areas. The city houses dozens of homeless
citizens (?) there who defecate in the forests daily, which ends
up in the lake, and then in L.A. Harbor, and that's OK too. NO problem.
The couple of acres used to hide the homeless are the only two acres at the
park without a single bird nest, and in a 90-day survey in Y2K, not even
a foraging bird was found in these two acres!
The forest floor is getting so compacted from the constant trampling,
it's as hard as a desert floor. The city is killing the forest, destroying
the historical habitat, despite ten years of my complaints about it on
the record. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. I am.
The only question is, "What’s next?"
Based on its historical uses, as the water source for the ships (drum barracks)
in the harbor, oil drilling, mud mining, the junction of properties of
Dominguez, Sepulveda, and Machado (not to mention the site of several
early Gabrielino Native American villages), one would think it
would be a historical site as well as a habitat refuge. My guess is that
it would be about the only place Dominguez, Sepulveda, or Machado
would even recognize if they were to see Los Angeles today.
Unfortunately, history is about as important as habitat to the city.
Nearby, Banning Park IS a historical site, yet the city has removed many
dozen healthy trees for various special interest projects and wants to
remove more of these historically important trees left to ALL of us
for more special interests.
If you find all this as appalling as I do, please write the Mayor of
the City of Los Angeles a letter stating so and "cc" me please.
Should the state or feds step in as they have with the LAPD in order to
save or fix it? I wish they would order them to take care of the habitat,
or lose it, period. We will lose it if we continue the habitual neglect
the City has called management.
| Where is KMHRP? | What is KMHRP? | Bird Photos, List, Where to | ||
| Butterflies | Historical Photos | Park Abuse | ||
| Dragonflies | Park Habitats | |||
| Wilmington Drain | Helping Harbor Park |
Park Rules (Under Construction) |