> the river project >
The River Project is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to planning for natural resource protection, conservation and enhancement in Los Angeles County.
Our mission is to encourage responsible management of our watershed lands and revitalization of our rivers for the social, economic and environmental benefit of our communities. Through outreach, advocacy, scientific research and hands-on educational programs, we provide communities with the tools to reclaim their riverfront lands.
What
do we do?
* Advocate for a more integrated watershed-based approach to planning
* Identify opportunities to improve our riverfronts and surrounding watershed
lands
* Undertake necessary scientific studies to revitalize our rivers
* Focus on accomplishing multi-objective projects
* Participate in policy development at the local, regional and statewide level
* Engage communities in the process of creating parkways and bikeways along
our rivers
* Work closely with schools to provide hands on, project-based learning opportunities
* Facilitate locally-driven public art along our river greenways
* Provide communities with the knowledge and tools they need to be watershed
stewards
* Promote awareness of our native ecosystem and a sense of place in Southern
California
What
are some of our key accomplishments?
The River Project organized the Coalition for a State Park at Taylor Yard and
led the successful fight to establish the first state park on the Los Angeles
River. We have undertaken a comprehensive study of the Tujunga Wash subwatershed,
and are actively engaged in the design and development of several river greenway
parks in the San Fernando Valley.
Our educational program has been named in the state board of education's California Guide to Environmental Literacy as one of the best environmental education projects in the state.
We are active partners in policy development through the LA & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council, the county’s LA River Masterplan Advisory Committee, the city of LA’s Integrated Resource Plan, and it’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Los Angeles River.
In March of 2003, The River Project director, Melanie Winter was honored by Sunset Magazine as the first recipient of their annual environmental hero awards “Champions of the West.”
the river:
In 1769, the beauty and bounty of the Los Angeles River inspired the city’s founding on its banks. In the 1930’s the river’s erratic nature inspired the US Army Corps of Engineers to fix its course within a concrete straitjacket. In the 1990’s the Los Angeles River made American Rivers’ list of the country's 20 most threatened and endangered rivers 6 times. In 1995 it was named the second most endangered river in United States.
The Santa Clara is southern California's last major "wild river", yet encroaching development is impacting its water quality and despite the lessons learned, threatens to deliver it the same devastating concrete fate that engineers dealt the Los Angeles River nearly a century ago.
Our
rivers today face many challenges, but the opportunities for improvement are
astounding. One that today is a concrete channel, hidden under freeways and
behind factories, could someday be a beautiful ribbon of green, connecting communities
from the mountains to the sea. The other that is today a beautiful but threatened
river could, with a sound management plan that adequately protects the river
and its resources and recognizes the folly of floodplain development, be a model
for the future.
Our rivers are an incredible resource. Living with this resource in our dense
urban environment poses many problems - pollution, crowding, flooding, drought
- but each problem also presents an opportunity. Revitalized rivers can improve
water quality, provide green space in park-poor communities, improve flood protection
and reduce our dependence on imported water.
How
to Save a River
In the past we've taken a single-purpose approach to solving these problems,
addressing them one at a time - building dams, levees, stormdrains, or treatment
plants. The flaw in that approach is that in nature, everything is connected
to everything else and eventually, the solution to one problem creates a problem
of its own.
For instance, until 1913 when William Mulholland built the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Los Angeles River was the sole source of water for the city. The additional water that the aqueduct provided facilitated a population explosion in the region (and devastated Mono Lake). The growing population became dependent on the imported water supply and engineers searched for more sources. At the same time, other engineers, searching for a solution to the river’s periodic flooding designed a system to get rid of all the rainwater that fell in the region as quickly as possible, flushing it out to the sea. This allowed even more development, replacing agriculture with asphalt and preventing nature's ability to cleanse and absorb rainwater. Today, our stormwater runoff is polluted and only 15% of our drinking water supply comes from our depleted aquifers. Good minds working in a disintegrated fashion - each solved the single problem they were given, yet by doing so in a vacuum, they ultimately caused more problems for each other.
As we enter the 21st century, the time has come to stop building solutions one on top of the other like a house of cards. Watershed management is a way of working with nature rather than against it to provide flood protection without sacrificing water supply, impacting water quality or destroying the natural processes of nature’s services. It takes an integrated approach to managing our resources, focusing on multiple benefits rather than on single purpose solutions, and balancing socioeconomic and environmental impacts. We need to start thinking about sustainability and working with nature rather than against it, because nature always bats last in any contest.
It's
time to look at the big picture, to look at our region as a whole, as a functioning
organism - as a watershed.
Learn about how headwater streams and wetlands benefit us by mitigating flooding,
maintaining water quality and quantity, recycling nutrients, and providing habitat
for plants and animals. A new report from American Rivers and the Sierra Club,
Where Rivers Are Born, summarizes the scientific basis for understanding that
the health and productivity of rivers and lakes depends upon intact small streams
and wetlands.
"Rivers
and streams are often described as the arteries and capillaries of the earth,
providing the pathways for water and nutrients essential for all life. Healthy
Riparian ecosystems nourish and sustain the most complex and important food
chains in nature, distributing nutrients, carrying off waste, pulsing with life.
They are the breeding grounds, the nurseries, and the habitat for a bewildering
variety of species, and they are the natural systems most vulnerable to the
destructive impacts of human development.”
- David M. Bolling
"Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children's lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land." - Luna Leopold
> bio >
Melanie Winter is the founder and director of The River Project, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to improving local communities through the restoration of Los Angeles' watersheds. The River Project works to promote the natural and historic heritage of Los Angeles by educating the public about Southern California's unique ecosystems and engaging them in the process of creating a regional network of parkways and bikeways along our rivers. They design & implement parkway projects, undertake scientific studies, provide project-centered educational programs and advocate for watershed-based planning.
Ms. Winter has been highly instrumental in securing over $100 Million in State funds to begin creation the Los Angeles River Greenway. She spearheaded the Coalition for a State Park at Taylor Yard, whose success led to the acquisition of the first 58 acres of what will ultimately become a 100-acre Los Angeles River State Park. She serves on the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee, the County’s LA River Master Plan Advisory Committee and is a liaison to the board of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council.
A Burbank native raised in the San Fernando Valley, she returned home after spending 15 years working in New York City as an actor, dancer, choreographer and photographer. Her return to Los Angeles coincided with the Rodney King verdict, prompting her commitment to social justice activism. She helped found the Los Angeles Breast Cancer Alliance, and has produced events and raised funds for Sunset Hall, Women’s Action Coalition, Planned Parenthood, Bohemian Women’s Political Alliance (whose slogan was ‘Good Politics – Bad Attitude’), the ACLU and National Public Radio, among others.
In
October 1993, she created the “War Mammorial” – an installation
consisting of 1,000 plaster casts of women’s torsos set on a sloping hillside.
The number of casts reflected the number of women who die of the disease in
LA County every year. The piece kicked off National Breast Cancer awareness
month and received significant media attention. The closing chapter of Dr. Susan
Love’s “Breast Book” describes the impact of the piece and
her personal response to it.
Prior to organizing The River Project, Ms. Winter was executive director for
Friends of the Los Angeles River for 4 years, where she designed their education
and water quality monitoring programs, established their website, tripled their
membership and budget and brought significant national attention to the Los
Angeles River.
Melanie was honored by Sunset Magazine as the first recipient of their annual environmental awards “Champions of the West.”
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