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1. NewsView says:

   Sunday, Aug 20, 2023 at

   It’s a shame that Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes aren’t conservation sites. The Sierran Chorus Frog, California Frog and Red-Legged Frogs are all present here but the water in Southern California’s only naturally-occurring lakes is seasonal. Over the years, proposals have been made and dropped to move excess water that would normally be let out to sea to go into these sag ponds located in Northwest Los Angeles County.

   It really should be a focus because these lakes also support(ed) Western Pond turtles, migratory birds and associated birds of prey (including Swainson’s Hawk, another species that needs expanded hunting ranges to survive which Southern California’s few natural lakes provide).

   If Elizabeth Lake and Lake Hughes could be kept filled it would also serve to mitigate wildfire hazards (i.e. could have been used to bring the Lake Fire under control in August 2020 had the lakebed not been dry and water-dropping aircraft not forced to go to Castaic for water).

   In summer 2023 the frogs are again singing their nightly chorus because the lakes have not dried up this season unlike in the past three years. Frogs and toads emerge by the thousands during wet weather (i.e. tropical storm Hilary), only to be subject to passing cars on Elizabeth Lake Rd (N2).

   This area is surrounded by Angeles National Forest but seems highly neglected. The nearby Elizabeth Lake Picnic and Day-Use area has been cut in half (no media reports exist to explain why an “upgrade” resulted in the parking lot, park benches and restrooms being halved). In addition, Tree of Heaven infestation (State-identified invasive species) is horrendous here and are quickly overtaking the Lake Fire burn scar areas, crowding out native species.

   The dirty little secret that has remained true despite the ravages of climate change is that California allows immense amounts of water to run off into the ocean, even in drought years. Voters passed legislation years ago (2014?) to build new reservoirs but because those projects haven’t happened yet, millions of gallons are released into the sea every single year (even at a time when the federal government is cracking down on California’s Colorado River drawing rights).

   Environmental groups need to balance the need to protect local species (i.e. where would-be reservoirs might be built) against the wellbeing of the State at large, much of which is needlessly starved for water because water capture and existing lakebeds are allowed to go dry rather than being utilized as a resource.

   Citizens and conservationists need to come together to demand accountability because there is shockingly little being done by State/local leaders to manage water resources despite frequent talk on the part of Democrats in Sacramento about climate change. Rather than contemplate, as happened last year, buying out Central Valley farmers’ water rights and essentially killing off California’s bread basket one “easy target” at a time, the fundamental work of capturing rainwater to ensure it is not redirected to the ocean needs to be the first order of business. When we can do the hard things — and build actual infrastructure to make water capture/sequestration possible and it STILL doesn’t alleviate the State’s perpetual water emergency — then we can talk about depriving the country and indeed the world of a significant portion of the world’s fruit, vegetable and nut food supply. After all, the nation can’t eat on Iowa corn, alone.

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