The NELA River Collaborative project builds upon the growing momentum of efforts already underway to transform the Los Angeles River into a "riverfront district" and to create a focal point of community revitalization. For more information on the collaborative visit www.mylariver.org

In the past month, Atwater Villagers have raised concerns about coyotes spotted on the islands on the Los Angeles River between Los Feliz and Glendale Boulevards. As many as six coyotes were spotted romping around the island.

Though some residents may be concerned, Kathleen Bartholomew, 59, grew up in Atwater Village and isn't worried. "They've always been there," she said. "I remember seeing them as a young girl, though it does seem like their numbers have been increasing gradually over the past few decades."

Neighbors see the encroaching coyote population as a consequence of the growing movement to naturalize the Los Angeles River. In the last 20 years, the city of Los Angeles has stopped cutting down trees that have sprouted on the island. The resulting brush has attracted birds, but also predators such as coyotes looking for their next meal.

Instead of worrying about the coyotes, Bartholomew instead focuses on the positive side, that the Los Angeles River is increasingly home to wildlife. "Naturalizing the Los Angeles River is a great idea. It's incredibly good for the animals. You wouldn't believe the number of birds nesting there now," she said .

Though the increasingly natural character of the river may be a factor, the crafty coyote has increasingly been found in various environments around the nation, from "the tundra of Alaska, the tropical forests of Panama and the urban jungle of New York City," according to a Smithsonian Magazine article. It is a species that has proven surprisingly flexible.

Every little bit counts, especially when it comes to open space. If all goes according to plan, this June, Angelenos will be welcoming another greenway right by the Los Angeles River.

Dubbed the "Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant Open Space Greenway," the 0.4-acre curved park lies on the east bank of the Los Angeles River just off the Colorado exit below the 5 freeway.

Inspired by the positive feedback from the North Atwater Park Expansion and Creek
Restoration project, Councilman Tom LaBonge filed a motion requesting the Bureau of Engineering (BoE), the Department of Recreation and Parks, and the Bureau of Sanitation (BoS) to assess if any land south of North Atwater Park by the Los Angeles Glendale Water Reclamation Plant could be spared to create open space. Their search revealed "a bunch of grass next door," said to Gene Greene, landscape architect with the BoS and the director of the Japanese Garden at Tillman Water Reclamation Plant.

In Australia, a walkabout is a sacred rite of passage one undergoes to find oneself by being immersed in nature. In Southern California, the Hahamongna Walkabout, hosted by the Arroyo Seco Foundation (ASF), seeks to inspire by guided tours through this rare spot near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena where mountain terrain transforms into an urban plain.

The Hahamongna Watershed Park hosts a range of plant habitat and is a refuge for many species of wildlife and birds. Only last summer, a pair of Least Bell's Vireos, an endangered subspecies of Bell's Vireo songbird were spotted in the 300-acre open area.

Quantifiable data is a necessary first step in establishing a baseline for future improvement in any undertaking. But when it came to the health of watersheds, there wasn't much of that available until the 1990s, when the environmental non-profit Heal the Bay and their team of more than 500 volunteers began to gather high quality data that would shed light on how exactly humans are affecting their surroundings.

The team focused their efforts on the Malibu Creek watershed, the second largest watershed draining to Santa Monica Bay. Despite its size, over 75 percent of the 110-square mile watershed is still undeveloped. Within the watershed, pristine habitats, urbanized areas, and everything in between could be found. It was an ideal real-world laboratory.

Heal the Bay has now published a comprehensive report detailing findings culled from 12 years of data gathered by their Stream Team volunteers.

The NELA River Collaborative project builds upon the growing momentum of efforts already underway to transform the Los Angeles River into a "riverfront district" and to create a focal point of community revitalization. For more information on the collaborative visit www.mylariver.org

Spring is here and, in Los Angeles, that means taking full advantage of our warm weather with picnics, barbecues, bike rides and all manner of good fun. With its newly launched Kickstarter project, the Los Angeles Revitalization Corporation (LARRC) is proposing a gem of an addition to our itinerary -- a bike-in movie theater series.

Riffing off of the 1950s tradition of drive-ins, the LARRC is asking Angelenos to tune-up their bikes, make use of the bike path by the river, and take in a free movie at the end. If you don't have a bike, don't worry -- the event will be open to the public, but they encourage attendees, skate, take the bus or walk to the venue.

Developers and environmental advocates are often pitted against each other when it comes to the question of how to move communities forward, but in a forum dedicated to the Los Angeles River, the case was made to change that old dynamic.

The Council for Watershed Health hosted the "The Restoration and Development Challenges of the L.A. River" forum last Friday at the CBS Studios. As expected, many challenges were outlined and aired. These included finding ongoing funding for maintenance of projects, working with multiple agencies, and creating an engaged community around the river. By far, a recurring theme was getting pivotal people on board so water-related projects and its benefits could be realized.

"The people who own land and the people who are able to finance -- those people need to be in this room to make this pop," said Cecilia Estolano, co-founder of Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors, a consulting agency that seek to grow healthy, vibrant communities. Out of roughly 180 attendees, only two or three representatives fit into the financial or land-owning categories. But ironically, they are a crucial part of any project.

Long before freeways arrived, binding the far-flung corners of Los Angeles closer together, there were streetcars. And before that, there were horses. Though much of yesteryear's horse trails have since been paved over with concrete, in a small community just off the 134 freeway, the rugged appeal of the country life still calls.

The Rancho Equestrian District of Burbank-Glendale is set just a few miles from Griffith Park, right by the Glendale Narrows on the Los Angeles River.

Jurisdictionally, the Rancho district crosses many borders. "The equestrian center is in the city of Los Angeles. The county of Los Angeles has say in the area because of the Los Angeles River. Caltrans is also there because of the 134 freeway. Then, the neighborhood is shared between the city of Glendale and the city of Burbank," explained Cory Wilkerson, transportation planner with the city of Burbank.

Despite its hazy official borders, the Rancho district is a a close community bonded by their love of horses. The neighborhood comprises two tracts of land: the smaller of the two sits right by the Warner Brothers studio south of the 134 freeway, ending at Bob Hope Drive on the east. The larger tract of land starts north of the 134 freeway, bordered by Keystone street on the west, ending just before Victory Boulevard on the east. Within this small area, city folk become backyard cowboys and cowgirls. It is perhaps the closest to rural living as you can get near downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood.

The NELA River Collaborative project builds upon the growing momentum of efforts already underway to transform the Los Angeles River into a "riverfront district" and to create a focal point of community revitalization. For more information on the collaborative visit www.mylariver.org

Angelenos may be celebrating the increased awareness and activity along the Los Angeles River, but residents of Atwater Village worry that these projects unfolding right in their backyards are adding stress to an already overloaded system.

On February 17, the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council released a resolution calling for increased consideration of the neighborhood when planning future projects and developments.

According to Alex Ventura, Environmental and Land Use Chair of the neighborhood council, this problem has been seething under the surface for quite some time now, but the recent push for a recreational zone in the Glendale Narrows has finally sparked the need to take action. He personally feels that recent public meetings have only asked for the neighborhood's token participation, not really allowing them to contribute meaningfully. "We have all these outside groups looking at the river and somehow our community is out of the loop. We're not being contacted. I think we're just getting lost in the shuffle," he said.

Just like how Hollywood hopefuls hold down day jobs, one of science fiction's landmarks has been holding down Los Angeles' water since 1984.

By day, the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant and its surrounding Japanese Gardens is a wastewater treatment plant that serves nearly 800,000 people within the surrounding San Fernando Valley area. By night (or whenever the production call time is), the plant on some occasions turns into Starfleet academy, where the Federation molds young minds to be future space explorers.

Though I encountered no Starfleet officers while walking through the grounds, one look at the Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall-designed building shows just why location scouts found it to be a perfect spot to evoke the future.

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved," said Ansel Adams, a master in the art of landscape photography.

Any dedicated photographer knows that to hold a camera in your hand is a powerful thing; through a camera's lens, we create a world based on what we choose to focus on.

Last summer, ten young Latinas from Boyle Heights were selected through applications to the leadership program Girls Today, Women Tomorrow to participate in Las Fotos Project, a non-profit community program that encourages creativity and self-expression by teaching them the basics of photography. The girls had the opportunity to create photographs that not only allowed a tantalizing glimpse of their own everyday lives, but also provoked questions about their relationship with nature.

Their works are now collected in the book "Nature: Double Exposed -- Boyle Heights meets the San Gabriel Mountains." In it, readers see haunting images of family members and friends playing in and around the neighborhood, juxtaposed with ghostly wisps of trees or leaves or water hovering over the urban landscape. Paired with haiku-like poems, their images allow readers to see the world through the young girls' eyes, even for just a few minutes.