In those olden days ducks, grebes, coots, gallinules, rails, and other water birds raised their young in the tule marshes of [Dominquez] Slough and the Cienega, accompanied by swarms of yellow-head, tri-colored and red-winged blackbirds; flocks of geese and cranes wintered on the Baldwin Hills and other favorable localities, and bands of Mountain Plover fed on stubble fields and pasture lands. In the autumn swarms of wild ducks of many species came down from the north to winter on our marsh lands and lagoons, providing sport for the hunters operating with comparatively little competition, and unhampered by bag limits and license fees. Even our beaches that now teem with recreationists throughout much of the year, were the breeding grounds of large numbers of Least Terns and Snowy Plovers. Great, untilled expanses of hillsides, mesas and ravines, as yet untouched by rodent-poisoning campaigns, harbored a dense population of ground squirrels, kangaroo rats, wood rats, pocket mice, deer mice, harvest mice and other small mammals.

The abundance of birds and small mammal life furnished an adequate supply for numerous carnivores, both avian and mammalian. Large hawks and Golden Eagles were plentiful over mountains and plains, Ospreys and Bald Eagles were frequent visitors along the coast, and the huge California Condor and its smaller relative the Turkey Vulture feasted on left-overs from the kills of predators or on wild or domestic animals victims of disease.

Before the turn of the century it began to be known that this paradise for wild life was also a paradise for human-kind. Then commenced the influx of settlers bent on escaping the discomforts of more rigorous climes. In a few years time villages became cities and settlements appeared where had been open fields. Land was stripped of its original cover, cultivated and fenced. A lowering water-level dried up streams, lakes and ponds were drained, and forests of oil derricks arose. Fine highways and myriad motor vehicles contributed to the transition. The Cienega became only a memory and [Dominguez] Slough degenerated to a mud hole. Littoral vegetation disappeared until there was no place for the water fowl to nest; neither was there water for the horde of avian visitors from the north. Geese and cranes found their wintering grounds taken over by real estate subdivisions and oil fields, and air ports sprung up where Mountain Plover were wont to feed. Thus Los Angeles County, as a sportsmen's paradise, passed out of the picture.

The decimation of the numbers of our game birds was accompanied by a like decrease in the native mammal population. The homes of the smaller animals were broken up by the cultivation of the ground. Squirrel poisoning was responsible not only for a decrease in the numbers of this harmful rodent, but for many other species that do little or no damage to agriculture.

When we consider some of these examples of changes that have taken place in our country, we may wonder whether the next half century will produce others equally as great.

The Canada Goose has come back to the Sepulveda Wildlife Area, which is on the LA River in the San Fernando Valley. Also, an Osprey platform has been placed at this Wildlife Area. Now we need to help the Canada Goose and Osprey recover at the Baldwin Hills, Ballona Creek and LA River near downtown LA. The Belmont School site could make a wonderful Canada Goose foraging prairie ground, not far from the LA River. Similarly, the Baldwin Hills would make a wonderful foraging ground for Canada Goose recovered on Ballona Creek Wetlands.

The Clapper Rail nested in the Ballona Wetlands, but disappeard along with a host of other birds after the Yacht Harbor of Marina del Rey was built. Every so often, a Clapper Rail is sighted and photographed, as occurred about 5 years ago. A scientist working at saving the Clapper Rail in San Diego told us that if more tidal water is allowed to flow and land saved from development at the Ballona Wetlands, that the Clapper Rail could be recovered to this unique part of Los Angeles County. When asked if I could help put the Clapper Rail into Ballona, he replied: "Yes, if you get trained and help us in Orange County, which is next county to the south of LA County."

At Dockweiler State Park in Venice, there is a Least Tern Preserve that is a beautiful place to see the Least Tern raise their young each summer now, for more than 10 years. But we need at least four more Least Tern Preserves (Playa Del Rey, Santa Monica, Malibu, and Redondo Beach) in Los Angeles County.

The Snowy Plover still appears on beaches of LA and Malibu in the Fall and Winter, but it nests in Ventura County and Orange County, which is north and south of Los Angeles County. The bird is so rare it is on the UNITED STATES FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST. They If we manage our public beaches with more respect for nature and clean beaches, the Snowy Plover would nest again in Santa Monica, Venice, Playa del Rey, Redondo Beach, and Topanga.

The Bald Eagle is back on Catalina Island as a "365 days a year" resident, after 20 years of hard recovery work. Now we need to recover the Bald Eagle to Ballona Creek, LA River, and Malibu. It can be done. All the children and youth, not to mention adults, need to have the daily experience of seeing the American Bald Eagle in Los Angeles! The residents of Avalon on Catalina Island should not be the only ones to see the Bald Eagle.

We need to restore California Prairie to LA so that the Mountain Plover and Sandhill Crane can be here in the winter months. Just 100 miles north of LA is the Carrizo Plain, where both these birds still occur during the winter months. We can use the Carrizo Plain as a "guidebook" or "road-map" if you will, to bring back the Sandhill Crane and the "Prairie" Plover to Los Angeles.

There are many more animals that George Willett did not even list such as the Western Pond Turtle, Peregrine Falcon, Burrowing Owl, and Coyote. Even the state bird - California Quail, is barely holding on to it last remaining habitat of coastal sage in the Baldwin Hills. There may only be 10-20 Quail left in the entire Baldwin Hills.

Lastly, although the Brown Bear could never find a home in the Baldwin Hills, it could perhaps find a place in the San Gabriel Mountains. We must not forget the Bear, at least in spirit, metaphor, and story. The Brown Bear is a logo on the uniforms and vehicles of our State Parks Agency, and on our State Flag. In the 1930's, the Black Bear was introduced to Crystal Lake, in the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County. Seventy years later they still occur there, less than 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Italy, a country about the same size as California more than double the people at 90 million population, has Brown Bear in its Appennine Mountains. Still, perhaps it is unreasonalbe to consider the Brown Bear in the San Gabriel Mountains? However, the Brown Bear could recover in the Sierra Nevada, or "The Range Of Light," as John Muir called them, and who after all, as the founder of the Sierra Club, is still revered as the great American Naturalist. John Muir might have spiritually said: "The Bear is Light" or "Shine Light on the Bear." It seems that the Brown Bear's "light" is "shining" again in southern California, as we see California State Parks acquiring land in the Baldwin Hills, along the Los Angeles River, Topanga Lagoon, Chino Hills, and soon in the Ballona Wetlands and Malibu coast.