Pasadena weekend: March 6-8

Lots of gardening opportunities this weekend as well as some ongoing and recurring events.*

Gardening, workshops and hands-on. On Saturday morning the Arroyo Seco Foundation will host a workshop on native plant propagation. (This is learning by doing!) Also on Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host a workshop on natural food gardening. On Saturday afternoon, there will be a Free-Food Garden work party at the Arroyo Food Co-op. On Sunday morning, the Eaton Canyon Gardening Group will meet at the Nature Center to do some maintenance work on the gardens and the native vegetation. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden (usually) meets on Sunday mornings.

Climate Change. The Pasadena-Foothills chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday morning.

Bicycling. On Sunday morning the Pasadena Cyclery will host a ride and clinic for beginner riders just starting out or for riders wanting to cycle more effectively.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Walks, docent-led. For Sunday morning, the California Native Plant Society has put its monthly plant walk at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center on the calendar. Descanso Gardens (La Canada) is holding docent-guided seasonal walks on Saturday and Sunday morning. On Friday and Saturday morning, the Arboretum (Arcadia) will host docent-led walking tours.

Petition, survey. Change.org's petition for a ban of styrofoam containers in Pasadena is still up and active. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Exhibition. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival 2014, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.

*An earlier version of this post led with a template summary of events. Apologies for the confusion.

Wide-eyed looks and a mea culpa at LA County's Hahamongna presentation

A Los Angeles County representative admitted on Monday evening that the Department of Water and Power should have worked harder during past years to keep sediment levels in the Hahamongna Basin low. At a Pasadena City Council meeting the assistant deputy director of the LADWP Water Resources Division, Chris Stone, said: "We were a little bit negligent in maintaining our projects."

The City had invited Stone and the principal engineer for the Water Resources Division, Keith Lilley, to the meeting so that they could present their department's updated plan for removing sediment from the basin. It calls for hauling away 2.4 million cubic yards of dirt from the area behind the Devil's Gate Dam over the course of three to five years and would result in up to 400 truck trips a day, i.e. 50 trips per hour or almost one trip per minute.

Local residents and activists stood up on Monday evening to urge the City to intervene for a more sustainable solution. The main concerns include truck emissions, traffic congestion and dust as well as the destruction of wildlife habitat and the loss of recreational areas. Lilley's assurance that the traffic from trucks would not significantly impact the road intersections in the area elicited wide-eyed looks from many residents and an "Are you kidding me?" from Councilwoman Margaret McAustin.

The sediment level in the Hahamongna basin is currently high for two reasons: No dirt has been removed since 1994 (hence Stone's admission of negligence) and the Station Fire in 2009 resulted in a thick layer of additional mud and debris. The County, the City, local residents and environmental activists agree that the heavy build-up could cause flooding further downstream during a period of heavy rainfall. But while no one wants to see communities along the Arroyo in danger, opinions about what to do and how fast to do it differ.

Timothy Brick, the Managing Director of the Arroyo Seco Foundation, pointed out that the revised project plan would remove sediment down to a level not seen since 1935. He pleaded for the County to remove less dirt and to then maintain that level, and for the City to protect its citizens and natural resources. "This is not some waste area that we can destroy willy-nilly," he said.

The LA County Board of Supervisors will discuss the DWP's plan on November 12. If it is approved, sediment removal could begin in the spring of 2016. The County's original project would have removed 2.95 million cubic yards of dirt. A citizens working group convened by the City of Pasadena suggested that a total of 1.1 million cubic yards of sediment should be hauled away over the course of five years. The City adopted the working group's recommendations in May.

Pasadena weekend: October 31-November 2

Do something about climate change and learn about plans to alter the Hahamongna Watershed Park. Plus: a seed swap, a new watering schedule, this week's random read and more.

Hahamongna Watershed Park. The LA County Flood Control District recently released the final Environmental Impact Report for the Devil's Gate Sediment Management Program in Hahamongna Watershed Park. It will present the plan to the City of Pasadena at a council meeting on Monday. In addition, a series of three public meetings will allow the public to comment on the Flood Control District's plan before it goes to the County Board of Supervisors for their review and possible approval. The first meeting is on Saturday afternoon. Local sustainability groups including the Arroyo Seco Foundation strongly oppose the plan.

Climate change. Interested in climate change? The Citizen’s Climate Lobby will meet on Saturday morning.

Pasadena's watering schedule for the winter begins on Saturday. Going forth, Pasadena Water and Power customers may water on one day a week only. It must be a Tuesday, a Thursday or a Saturday.

The Free Food Garden at the Arroyo Food Co-op is hosting a seed swap on Saturday with a work party in the garden to precede it. The co-op is now open on Saturdays and Sundays for pick-ups and shopping. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up starting next Tuesday.

Gardening. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden meets on Sunday morning.

Petition, vulnerable road users. The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has initiated a petition for the City to adopt an ordinance to protect vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and persons with disabilities.

Survey. Pasadena Water and Power is conducting a survey on the city's energy future. To participate go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWP_Energy_Future2014. (Note: PWP has not posted any information on when the survey period ends, but as of this printing the link was still up.)

Cycling. On Sunday morning Pasadena Cyclery will hold Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Exhibition 1. As part of the Pasadena Arts Council's AxS Festival, the Armory presents Karin Apollonia Müller's World’s Edge, a photographic exploration of the intersection between the natural landscape and complex urbanization. Ends next summer.

Exhibition 2. An exhibition at Descanso Gardens in La Canada titled Signs of Life aims to look at water "in all its moods and states." Ends November 30.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Random read. An environmental disaster story with a happy ending: In the November/December issue of Orion Magazine Rowan Jacobsen explores the history of Yuma, Arizona, a "kiln-dry city of ninety thousand people and 3 billion heads of lettuce." His narrative, Down by the River, shows how upstream damming of the Colorado which was once "an unruly god of creation and destruction" wreaked havoc on the environment and in the local communities; the river's wetlands turned to desert, and the native Quechan and the residents of Yuma fought "a cold war". The turnaround came with the new millennium. Thanks to the persistence and vision of a community developer and a landscape architect the wetlands and a sense of identity have been restored — with water that runs off from the lettuce fields.

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage. This post was last updated on 10/31 at 7 p.m.  

Pasadena weekend: September 19-21

Two presentations on energy efficient living, bike rides and a Coastal Cleanup Day define the sustainable weekend.

Coastal Cleanup Day in the Arroyo on Saturday aims to help keep trash out of the ocean. This is one of two sites the Arroyo Seco Foundation is supporting in 2014. Last year over 648,000 volunteers worldwide participated in Coastal Cleanup Day events to clean up beaches and streams in 92 countries.

Energy efficient living 1. Energy Efficiency in Historic Homes is the title of a half-day seminar that Pasadena Heritage has organized for Saturday. Architects, contractors and energy consultants will discuss financial incentives and preservation challenges. Session topics include Traditional climate control features in historic homes, Insulation and landscaping for shade and Water conservation.

Energy efficient living 2. For Sunday morning, the 7th Principle Group at the Unitarian Church has announced a presentation by Peter Kalmus from Caltech titled Joyful low energy living. All are welcome to attend.

Bicycling. On Sunday morning, Pasadena Cyclery will hold two rides: Gwen's Group Ride and the Sunday Morning Neighborhood Stroll. For details see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA.

Gardening. Transition Pasadena's Throop Learning Garden meets on Sunday.

Ongoing petition. The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has initiated a petition for the City to adopt an ordinance to protect vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and persons with disabilities.

Ongoing exhibition. An exhibition at Descanso Gardens in La Canada titled Signs of Life aims to look at water "in all its moods and states." The event is part of this year's AxS Festival, a celebration of the arts and sciences that is held in Pasadena every two years.

The Arroyo Food Co-op will be open on Saturday morning for pick-ups and shopping. Orders placed online by Sunday midnight will be available for pick-up next Tuesday and Saturday. From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Patti Harrison will share her expertise on all things Chinese teas, from their history to brewing methods.

Got kids? On Saturday morning, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center is hosting a family nature walk. Bring your small children, walking shoes, sunscreen, water and a hat. Also on Saturday morning at the Nature Center: the weekly Nature Tails Story Hour which includes stories, nature walks and puppet shows for children ages 3-5.

Random read. Created and maintained by the Friends of Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve and Constance M. Vadheim, an adjunct Professor of Biology at CSU Dominguez Hills, Mother Nature's Backyard is a blog about water-wise and life-friendly gardening in Southern California. The latest entry reads like a love letter to the often unseen change of seasons in the region: how a drought-tolerant vegetation transforms as the months go by, how its colors move from silvers and purples to yellows and browns. Serving as a perfect introduction to the website, the post reminds us that the driest time of the year bears beauty. "Overall," it says about water-wise backyards during the months of August, September and October, "the garden is a symphony of browns; a restful blend of colors that is subtle and soothing."

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Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Pasadena. For times, addresses and other details please see the calendar page of Pasastainable, CA or the event owner's webpage.