KIDS WORK TO IMPROVE HANSEN DAM.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff WriterWhere they once saw an exercise area, weeds and a hole filled with water, 50 San Fernando High School San Fernando High School, located in San Fernando, California, is a secondary school that is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school colors are black and gold. All girl teams are referred to as Lady Tigers, all boy teams simply as Tigers. students now look at Hansen Dam Hansen Dam in Los Angeles County, California was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District in 1939 and 1940. The project is located near the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley on Tujunga Wash, about one mile below the confluence of the Big Tujunga Wash as a vital community meeting place, their source of drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. and home to endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. . The students spent a month of intense research at the Northeast Valley's Hansen Dam through Project Grad - a college preparation and scholarship program. They spent time sampling water from the lake and studying the dam's birds and wildlife. They surveyed neighbors for concerns. They worked with architects to create recycled art for display at the Los Angeles Children's Museum, planned for the dam's recreation area. And Friday, during a presentation at Mission College, they shared their recommendations for the future of Hansen Dam. ``We don't mean to solve all of the problems but present them to the community and future Project Grad scholars,'' said Louisa Zuniga, 14. Students called for signs warning fisherman not to catch the endangered Santa Ana sucker The Santa Ana sucker, Catostomus santaanae, is a sucker found only in a handful of rivers in southern California. They are closely related to mountain suckers, and quite similar in appearance. or the threatened arroyo chub. They wrote brochures to teach residents about the environmental gem in their midst. And they warned that the area's pristine water quality was in jeopardy from development of fertilized fer·til·ize v. fer·til·ized, fer·til·iz·ing, fer·til·iz·es v.tr. 1. To cause the fertilization of (an ovum, for example). 2. soccer fields and golf courses. This is the second year Project Grad has sent students to scour scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. and study Hansen Dam. Last year students started to work shortly after the Army Corps of Engineers dumped dirt and debris in the Hansen Dam lakes - a move that prompted an outcry from the surrounding community and has yet to be fully resolved as activists, city leaders and Corps officials haggle over how much debris to remove. The students, many of whom live fairly close to Hansen Dam, said their research was eye-opening. ``Before Project Grad, I didn't know anything about Hansen Dam,'' Zuniga said. ``I didn't know there was a lake down there or fish or birds.'' Studying the water, wildlife and ecosystem at Hansen Dam made some students feel much more protective of the rare natural landscape. ``We want to try and keep as much wildlife as possible,'' said Maria Avalos, 15. ``We don't want to be destroying everything and building over everything.'' Project Grad is an early college outreach program that works in 15 public schools in the northeast San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Students selected for the college institute are working toward $6,000 college scholarships. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion