City Crews Admit They Bulldozed Nature Park

The Los Angeles City Department of Public Works admitted this week to bulldozing a swath through a delicate nature preserve in the Big Tujunga Wash while its crews were working on an emergency flood control project.

The bulldozer killed rare plants and uprooted scores of 40-foot-tall willow trees in the Tujunga Ponds Nature Preserve, a 13-acre nature sanctuary owned by Los Angeles County. Two man-made ponds there replace natural ponds that were paved over during construction of the Foothill Freeway.

Environmental groups and nearby homeowners were shocked to find the damage several weeks ago.

“We were devastated, and devastated is the only word to describe what happened,” said Jenny Klein, president of the Shadow Hills Property Owners Assn., representing nearby homeowners. “That bulldozer went from one end to the other, and the damage is irreparable. It’s outright vandalism.”

Source Traced

Marcy Margolis, chairwoman of Save the Tujunga Wash Committee, said she traced the 15-foot-wide bulldozer tracks, which cut a swerving path through the park, to a nearby public works maintenance yard.

Early this week, Edward Longley, director of street maintenance for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, met with East San Fernando Valley Councilman Howard Finn to survey the damage.

“It was strictly accidental. We were not aware of the preserve,” Longley told Finn as they stood amid felled trees and turned-up sand. “We are sorry, and that’s all there is to it.”

Longley carried maps to show Finn that no markings designate the area as a protected reserve. He said two bulldozers were in the area during last month’s rains to divert floodwaters from nearby Wentworth Street and to protect businesses and homes.

Delivers Admonition

Finn, who had hiked through the wash in a three-piece suit and leather shoes, pointed to a path next to the bulldozed area. “When they see a path, they should stay on it. They didn’t have to veer off like that,” he said.

Longley offered to have city crews clear away the damaged trees and plants.

However, Patrick Sullivan, a county administrator for natural area parks, said that procedure would make “no sense,” adding, “What are they going to do, haul it to the dump? In a few years, I don’t think the damage will be that noticeable.”

Judy Howard, member of the volunteer group Small Wilderness Preservation, said it had recently received a $48,000 grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to establish trails and a picnic area in the park.

Now, Howard said, the group is going to have to change the direction of the trail to make the destruction less visible.

“This was the most left-field thing that could have happened to us,” Margolis said. “We expect to chase out fishermen, clean up hiker’s trash. We weren’t expecting a bulldozer.”