By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater Exploring Southern California tide pools is one of my favorite pastimes. I love gazing into the shallow water and peering under rocks searching for the Pacific’s shoreline residents. My son, a nature enthusiast as well, enjoys keeping an ongoing tally of all the sea creatures we come across when we…

In 1994, Captain Charles Moore founded Algalita Marine Research and Education with the aim of restoring disappearing kelp forests and improving water quality along the California Coast. The Captain thought Algalita meant “little algae” in Spanish (it doesn’t), but after more than two decades, the name certainly has come to mean “great ocean defender.” Algalita…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater “Mom, what does a rain barrel look like? I want to make one and catch some rain!” stated my 7-year old son as the rain began to fall earlier this week. He proceeded to get out his Legos and “build” a very colorful rain barrel. Granted his rain barrel ended…

by Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater Earlier this month, we here at LA Stormwater had a Best Friends-themed weekend in more ways than one. Two of our staff members attended the NKLA Best Friends Super Adoption at the La Brea Tar Pits, distributing free dog waste bag canisters and tip cards to potential dog adopters. That…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater “Pssst! It’s time to wake up!” Daddy whispered, as he gently nudged me and my sister awake. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark outside. Half-awake, we quietly dressed in the dim light and made our way outside and into the crisp morning. I could…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater She swam confidently through the low-hanging bushes that edged the river. She eyed me and my zoom lens with suspicion and moved back into the shadows. I slowly crept along the river’s embankment with my camera poised, not wanting to spook her. What followed her out of the shadows made…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater With two recreational zones open this summer on the Los Angeles River, I thought I’d take advantage of the close proximity to the river my office enjoys and stroll along its banks with my camera. For the more than 10 years that I have been working in the Elysian Valley,…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater I said good-bye to one of my best friends last month. Dodger, my beloved 12-year old Boxer/Shepherd mix, peacefully crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on April 18. While my heart is broken, I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity I had to be Dodger’s mom and the life lessons he taught…

By Ruskin Hartley, President and CEO of Heal the Bay I’d been living in Los Angeles for about six months when a three-day storm hit back in February. I had begun to wonder what all the fuss was about stormwater. Could it really be that bad? Now I know the answer is yes—but not just…

By Joyce Amaro, LA Stormwater Just before midnight, I stood in my front yard in my pajamas and bare feet staring up at a full moon that looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. The “blood moon” eclipse had begun. For the next half hour, I watched as darkness slowly crept across…