Ventura River restoration input sought
Graduate students to compile suggestions for proposed parkway
By Hannah Guzik 02/21/2008
One hundred years ago the Ventura River, cascading down the Ojai mountains to the Pacific Ocean, sustained a burgeoning industrial city.
But as businesses and homes sprang up next to the riverbanks like the wild grasses, the waterway fell into neglect and environmental disrepair; it was forced to bear the brunt of human error and ecological-missteps. In 1947 the Matilija Dam put a stranglehold on the river, choking out steelhead trout and removing much-needed soil from the tributary.
Now, a group of California Polytechnic University, Pomona Landscape Architecture graduate students are stepping up to help preserve the river on behalf of the environment — and the local community.
“We want to get people’s personal memories of life that have to do with the river,” said Hope A. Escario, who’s helping out with the project as part of her masters thesis. “The purpose of putting it in that kind of language is to show people that they really do have things they can contribute, whether it’s modern photos of their family near the river or historic images of the river that can give us clues to what the shape and form of the river used to be.”
Organizers are also looking for stories from locals about the Ventura River and input on what locals would like to see included in the proposed parkway at the lower part of the river, between the Pacific outlet and Foster County Park.
Escario and her fellow students, Michael Kelley and doreen Morrissey, who prefers to spell her name with a lowercase d, will hold a workshop for anyone who wants to participate in the Ventura River parkway project Saturday, Feb. 23 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave.
The researchers will assimilate the local suggestions along with expert opinions from environmentalists into a book designed to guide the parkway planning process. The book should be finished in July or August, Escario said.
“There’s a lot of potential in the Ventura River because it’s one of the few rivers left in California, and it’s pretty much almost in its natural state.”
Escario said what has happened to the Ventura River symbolizes the plight of many natural resources that once sustained cities.
“For me, ideologically, I really believe that we as humans have come to a point where we’re so mechanized and programmed to go inside our house and do normal things that we’re missing out on a lot of things in the natural world. Personally I love the idea of reconnecting people to the river, and my teammates do, too.”
The Trust for Public Land is in the process of negotiating with private parties that own the land surrounding the river. Once the trust has acquired the land, it will be transferred to another organization, which will be responsible for building the parkway.
The Trust for Public Land recently secured a $100,000 state grant for preliminary work on the project, Escario said.
“This is a good example of combining a national organization with a state funding source and a state university,” said Barbara Harison, executive director of the Ventura Hillside Conservancy, one of the groups involved in the parkway project. “You have to have a lot of vision to look ahead to see how this lower six miles could be developed to be a parkway.”
Several Ventura City Council members voiced their support of the Cal Poly Pomona students’ efforts. The council also worked with the university last year to create a study on how Ventura would cope if oil were no longer available.
“The Ventura River is an integral part of the Ventura watershed and an important source of drinking water for the city,” said Councilman Brian Brennan. “All that being said, the river also plays a vital role in nurturing our environmental ethos as we try and connect the Avenue and the Downtown back to the river and the beaches.”
Councilman Carl Morehouse said he appreciates the insight students from outside the area may have on the project.
“The best thing is we get all of this work done from intelligent skilled students, without biases and boiler-plate, which is almost as good as getting it from consultants, whom we’d have to pay. And, no matter what we do with the information and input collected, it will help create a great data set for any next steps,” he said.
But as businesses and homes sprang up next to the riverbanks like the wild grasses, the waterway fell into neglect and environmental disrepair; it was forced to bear the brunt of human error and ecological-missteps. In 1947 the Matilija Dam put a stranglehold on the river, choking out steelhead trout and removing much-needed soil from the tributary.
Now, a group of California Polytechnic University, Pomona Landscape Architecture graduate students are stepping up to help preserve the river on behalf of the environment — and the local community.
“We want to get people’s personal memories of life that have to do with the river,” said Hope A. Escario, who’s helping out with the project as part of her masters thesis. “The purpose of putting it in that kind of language is to show people that they really do have things they can contribute, whether it’s modern photos of their family near the river or historic images of the river that can give us clues to what the shape and form of the river used to be.”
Organizers are also looking for stories from locals about the Ventura River and input on what locals would like to see included in the proposed parkway at the lower part of the river, between the Pacific outlet and Foster County Park.
Escario and her fellow students, Michael Kelley and doreen Morrissey, who prefers to spell her name with a lowercase d, will hold a workshop for anyone who wants to participate in the Ventura River parkway project Saturday, Feb. 23 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Bell Arts Factory, 432 N. Ventura Ave.
The researchers will assimilate the local suggestions along with expert opinions from environmentalists into a book designed to guide the parkway planning process. The book should be finished in July or August, Escario said.
“There’s a lot of potential in the Ventura River because it’s one of the few rivers left in California, and it’s pretty much almost in its natural state.”
Escario said what has happened to the Ventura River symbolizes the plight of many natural resources that once sustained cities.
“For me, ideologically, I really believe that we as humans have come to a point where we’re so mechanized and programmed to go inside our house and do normal things that we’re missing out on a lot of things in the natural world. Personally I love the idea of reconnecting people to the river, and my teammates do, too.”
The Trust for Public Land is in the process of negotiating with private parties that own the land surrounding the river. Once the trust has acquired the land, it will be transferred to another organization, which will be responsible for building the parkway.
The Trust for Public Land recently secured a $100,000 state grant for preliminary work on the project, Escario said.
“This is a good example of combining a national organization with a state funding source and a state university,” said Barbara Harison, executive director of the Ventura Hillside Conservancy, one of the groups involved in the parkway project. “You have to have a lot of vision to look ahead to see how this lower six miles could be developed to be a parkway.”
Several Ventura City Council members voiced their support of the Cal Poly Pomona students’ efforts. The council also worked with the university last year to create a study on how Ventura would cope if oil were no longer available.
“The Ventura River is an integral part of the Ventura watershed and an important source of drinking water for the city,” said Councilman Brian Brennan. “All that being said, the river also plays a vital role in nurturing our environmental ethos as we try and connect the Avenue and the Downtown back to the river and the beaches.”
Councilman Carl Morehouse said he appreciates the insight students from outside the area may have on the project.
“The best thing is we get all of this work done from intelligent skilled students, without biases and boiler-plate, which is almost as good as getting it from consultants, whom we’d have to pay. And, no matter what we do with the information and input collected, it will help create a great data set for any next steps,” he said.
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