INTEREST IN RIVER FINALLY FLOWING GRASS-ROOTS APPRECIATION RUNNING DEEPER.

Byline: Michael Coit Staff Writer

Trickles of water flow at the convergence of two massive concrete troughs, challenging the imagination to see a river beginning its run.

Yet these are the Los Angeles River headwaters.

Flowing together behind Canoga Park High School, the remnants of Bell and Calabasas creeks form a river that roils with winter storm flows and is sustained year-round by reclaimed wastewater and irrigation runoff.

Running 51 miles, the river is only a hint of the waterway that created Los Angeles, and was encased in concrete as the city sprawled.

But the river is alive. Native fish, amphibians and reptiles, small mammals and several hundred species of birds that nest and raise young are observed, mostly along remaining riparian reaches.

``It's not the Mississippi, but the river's still there and sustaining wildlife. We've killed a lot by concreting it, but there's still a lot there,'' said Joe Linton, a Los Angeles artist who leads monthly walks along the river. ``I think it's almost a testament to the persistence of natural systems. We like to think that, as man, we have complete control.''

A decade of effort by grass-roots groups is starting to pay dividends. Local, state and federal money is helping to regenerate the river by improving some wildlife habitat and making it a more attractive environment for the city's residents.

VISITORS CENTER TO OPEN

River advocates are inspired by wildlife hanging on along a river considered one of the world's most extensively controlled for flood protection. They contend it is a resource, not an eyesore.

Angelenos turned their backs on the Los Angeles River long ago.

But now, the Los Angeles River Center, under development in the landmark former home of Lawry's restaurant in Atwater Village, aims to generate a current of appreciation for the waterway when the visitors center opens in March.

``There were generations where people were told to stay away from the river,'' said Lewis MacAdams, a Los Angeles writer who founded Friends of the Los Angeles River in the mid-1980s.

``The river center is kind of a public recognition of the river. The river can be tough to imagine, but some people are actually working to make it happen.''

Plans for the visitors center call for a living river exhibit, dioramas and murals on river birds and stretches of the river system, aquariums, a theater and gallery.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy purchased the 6.8-acre Lawry's complex in 1998 for $7 million. The conservancy is spending $1.1 million more refurbishing and improving four Spanish-Mediterranean buildings.

More than a gathering spot for visitors, the river center will house nonprofit environmental and community groups and provide a forum for advocates of the river's resurgence, said Kathleen Bullard, the center's director.

``It creates a sense of place for the river as well as being able to educate people,'' she said.

The conservancy adds some clout to more than a decade of work by grass- roots groups to preserve and restore access and opportunities to walk and bike along the river. Some have dared paddle canoes.

City, county, state and federal agencies have joined the effort, providing critical planning and funding.

``A lot of people do not know we have an environmental mission,'' said Herb Nesmith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district office in Los Angeles. ``We will look at doing whatever we can where public safety isn't compromised.''

ECOLOGICALLY VALUABLE HABITAT

Congress has given the Army Corps an environmental restoration mandate in recent years. Projects on Mission Creek in Santa Barbara and the Napa River give hope to those who want to keep concrete out of rivers. Restoration of habitat to bring people and wildlife back to the Chicago River, including areas lined with concrete and metal siding, is another sign of change.

The Los Angeles River presents a greater challenge. Bringing people to the river is one thing, but restoring more ecologically valuable habitat is quite another.

``The L.A. River was, in essence, the reason why Los Angeles was founded where it is. It's one of the most prominent natural features of the region, though you wouldn't know it now,'' said Kimball Garrett, of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

``The impacts of human settlement on a whole variety of habitat have been so pervasive. It's just a hint of what the river was before.''

Los Angeles drew its water from the river and groundwater basins it sustained before the city's aqueduct was completed and brought water from the Sierra Nevada beginning in 1913.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers encased much of the river in concrete beginning in the late 1930s and continuing through the 1950s. The river project, and others on most of the river's tributaries, were driven by demand to protect people and property as the region developed up to the margins of waterways.

The river, which drains an 824-square mile watershed, once meandered down from mountain canyons to a broad plain scattered with marshes and lakes before being encased in concrete as the city sprawled this century.

SPECIES FIND REFUGE

Less than 13 miles remains a living river, supporting willows, sycamores and other nonnative riparian vegetation rooted in soft-bottom stretches in the Sepulveda Basin, Glendale Narrows and above Long Beach. High groundwater makes paving with concrete impossible.

Threatened and endangered species find refuge in these areas.

``If your frame of reference is the concrete channels that you see, then you're going to be surprised that there are places that actually come much closer to resembling a real river habitat,'' Garrett said. ``People who visit them simply can't help but be impressed.''

Garrett would know. He edited a definitive report on what lives in and along the river, published in 1993 with state funding obtained by Friends of the Los Angeles River.

--Two native fish, the arroyo chub and Santa Ana sucker, both endangered, still live in the river.

--The Pacific slender salamander, western toad and Pacific treefrog are natives living in the river's margins. The California legless lizard and western whiptail lizard, also natives, still call the river home.

--Mammals include the California ground squirrel, black-tailed jack rabbit, desert cottontail, fox squirrel, Brazilian free-tailed bat and raccoon.

--Birds are the most conspicuous wildlife. The river provides critical habitat for resident and migratory birds. Several hundred nest and raise young along the river's reach and more than 50 are listed by the state or federal government as threatened, endangered or species of special concern.

--Visitors to the Sepulveda Basin could spot blue grosbeak, blue-winged teal, Eurasian wigeon, American avocet, solitary sandpiper, horned lark, Sprague's pipit, chestnut-collared longspur, and wintering Canada goose.

--Birds in the Glendale Narrows include pied-billed grebe, mallard, cinnamon teal, American coot, killdeer, black phoebe, barn swallow, common raven, common yellowthroat, song sparrow, red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird and northern red bishop.

--The lower river near Long Beach features significant migrant species, including the western sandpiper, least sandpiper, black-necked stilt, long-billed dowitcher, semipalmated plover and black-bellied plover.

Annual cleanups led by Friends of the Los Angeles River and the monthly walks Linton has led for the group give people a closer look at the living river.

``People speed by in their cars and they see the concrete. What the walks are about is when people see the L.A. River in its beauty and its imperfection, then they can start to fall in love,'' Linton explained.

``That translates into getting involved and imagining what the river can be.''

COME ON DOWN

The challenge along the river is creating a network of parks, trails, bike paths and natural areas connecting the urban swath of Los Angeles to the river's margins, from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach.

The Army Corps has a master plan to guide bike path development between Glendale and the Sepulveda Basin. Bike and walking paths are planned on existing flood control right of way between the Sepulveda Basin and Universal City. Designs are nearly complete for a mile-long pilot project in Studio City.

Bike paths already are open between Glendale and the Arroyo Seco, in the Glendale Narrows above downtown. A string of pocket parks invite people to the river along the same stretch.

The river center is across busy San Fernando Road from the river, near the bike paths and parks. Plans are being developed to place bike paths in the Arroyo Seco, which feeds the river near the center, and into downtown.

``You've got this built environment. But the river can be a lot richer habitat than it is now,'' MacAdams said.

A group working to soften the urban river is North East Trees. The nonprofit urban forestry group has planted a thousand trees along the river and designed and developed the pocket parks with the conservancy.

``It's the only river we've got and we were pretty blown away by its need,'' said Chuck Taylor, the group's community outreach leader. ``That's what drew us to the river. We said, let's take this habitat and stretch it into where it used to be.

``It's kind of an ad for the river, to say come on down and see what's alive down here. It's not just a sewer.'' species of special concern.

CAPTION(S):

photo, drawing, map

Photo: (color) A jogger runs down a path next to the L.A. River at a small park near Figueroa Street and Riverside Drive.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Drawing: L.A.'s URBAN WILDERNESS

The Los Angeles River provides refuge to many threatened, endangered or species of special concern.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist

Map: THE LOS ANGELES RIVER

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