By Rachel Heller
The Los Angeles River has long been the butt of jokes among Angelenos and out-of-towners alike. With a higher content of cement than water, the channel in some places looks more like a runoff receptacle than a naturally flowing stream.
Other groups, like Friends of the L.A. River, have made some progress, but now homegrown nonprofit Village Gardeners, a group of San Fernando Valley volunteers, has adopted a half-mile stretch of the river straddling Sherman Oaks and Studio City. For the past three years they’ve been cleaning and replanting the riverbanks to make them a safe, serene place to bike and walk.
“Our ultimate goal is to restore the natural habitat along our adopted area, and to help improve the river greenway for the benefit of the community,” said Village Gardeners president Rick Rabins. “We want to reconnect people with nature. We’ve got this great opportunity to do that right in our backyards.”
So far, their efforts have been making big waves. Starting with their first major event on Earth Day in 2008, the group has removed dying oleander plants from the banks; planted new, California-native flora; lined the walkway with new trash bins; trimmed and maintained shrubs and trees; and cleaned catch basins along the river.
They’ve partnered with dozens of local schools and service groups for plant maintenance and “riverwalk clean-up” days, including Carpenter Avenue Elementary School, the Lion’s Club, The Buckley School and TreePeople. Over one Earth Day weekend, the Village Gardeners armed 150 community volunteers with work gloves and shovels to beautify the greenway.
Why all the toil? Because L.A. County workers alone can’t keep up with all the improvements needed to transform the river into a true neighborhood hangout, Rabins said. That’s where volunteers can roll up their sleeves and make a splash of their own.
Since beginning work, the Village Gardeners have planted more than 400 native plants, from sycamore and cottonwood trees to toyon, sage and California wild roses.
“I’m pretty proud of our accomplishments,” Rabins said. “Little by little, we’re improving that greenway, and more and more of the community is getting to enjoy it.”
