Oct 7 2024 – 7PM Isaac Brown on Native Plants & the Future of the LA River

Join Dr. Isaac Brown at the Madrona Marsh Nature Center on October 7 at 7PM.  This meeting is in-person and via Zoom (see link below) Dr Brown will provide an overview of Los Angeles River restoration, then discuss LA River (LAR) fish passage projects, their ecological evaluation and planting strategies, native plants, and the LA Biodiversity Index and the Ecotopes Framework.   The LA Times has covered a lot of prior and related work.  See, for example, Steelhead Trout in the LA River? and Rescued Trout are ‘trapped’ in Upper Arroyo Seco.

Zoom link:

https://cnps-org.zoom.us/j/87240812653?pwd=UHBERGxDVFlrNEFyK0JrNVhwMEJydz09

Biologists and engineers are setting the stage for an environmental recovery effort in downtown Los Angeles that could rival the return of the gray wolf, bald eagle and California condor. This time, the species teetering on the edge of extinction is the Southern California steelhead trout and the abused habitat is a 4.8-mile-long stretch of the L.A. River flood-control channel that most people only glimpse from a freeway.  The brutal vista of concrete and treated urban runoff exists as an impenetrable barrier to ancestral spawning grounds in the San Gabriel Mountains for the estimated 400 federally endangered Southern California steelhead left on Earth. (LA Times)

Dr. Isaac Brown is a nationally recognized landscape ecologist, planner, and designer specializing in ecological solutions for public and private sector projects worldwide. His expertise is in applying leading edge ecological science in the design process, addressing themes of urban biodiversity, ecosystem services, pollution reduction, public access, and ecological stewardship. Often working on complex urban park, open space, and green infrastructure projects, he guides multidisciplinary teams toward scientifically defensible, high-performance, and implementable products essential for achieving sustainable cities and ecosystems. Dr. Brown is also an adjunct faculty member in the Landscape Architecture program at USC where he teaches Urban Ecology and Plant Ecology & Identification. He received Bachelor of Science and Master of Landscape Architecture degrees from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, and a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability.

We will have any left over plants from the preceding weekend’s plant sale available for purchase at this meeting.

*Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically-distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping & classification system.