City of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kim Colloton announced that the plan to restore the Los Angeles River has been unanimously approved by the Civil Works Review Board of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, District of Columbia.
“ This is the culmination of more than a decade of work and marks an important milestone in our efforts to restore the Los Angeles River, ” said Garcetti. “ Because the Army Corps of Engineers has now given its official blessing, we have an opportunity to transform both the river’s aquatic riparian ecosystem and our city.”
The Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project proposes restoration measures in and along an 11-mile stretch of the river to reestablish scarce riparian strand, freshwater marsh and aquatic habitat, while maintaining existing levels of flood risk management.
Habitat connections will be reestablished at major tributaries within the river’s historic floodplain, and to regional habitat zones of the Santa Monica, San Gabriel and Verdugo mountains.
The plan will restore approximately 719 acres by widening the river in key areas by terracing and restructuring channel banks to support vegetation, creating side channels and off-channel marsh, daylighting small streams and removing invasive vegetation.