By Al Sattler, Group Chair     (Photo: © Eric Beteille. Used with permission)

Show that you support Nature in the Nature Preserve! Please attend the January 16, 2018 meeting of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council. We have word that a Portuguese Bend Landslide Feasibility Study will be considered at this meeting that may include drastic changes to the Portuguese Bend Nature Preserve.

Where: Hesse Park, 29301 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes. When: Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.; business usually starts about 7:30. Background: Over the past year, Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) has had a series of public workshops to consider ways to control the Portuguese Bend Landslide, which started moving in 1956. This continuing “land flow” causes significant problems for human infrastructure. Most noticeably, it moves Palos Verdes Drive South enough that constant maintenance is necessary.

There could be some environmental benefit from stabilizing the landslide, since sediment washes out into the ocean and smothers ocean life for some distance away from the toe of the landslide. On the other hand, a major project in the Portuguese Bend Nature Preserve could damage some beautiful habitat.

In 1956, heavy equipment was used in the Portuguese Bend area, and it didn’t turn out well. The attempt to extend Crenshaw Boulevard to the Pacific Ocean apparently triggered the landslide that continues to this day.

By January 12, the agenda for the meeting on the January 16 should be online. Look at http://www.rpvca.gov/772/City-Meeting-Video-and-Agendas, January 16, Agenda. For more background reading, download the staff report for the landslide item.

UPDATE: At the December 19, 2017 meeting of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council, council members and staff said that they do not plan to include significant changes to the NCCP (Natural  Communities Conservation Plan), which provides for habitat preservation. However, it would be good for them to hear support for Nature in the Nature Preserve. If you do not have time to attend the meeting, you can still send a polite email to the City Council at cc@rpvca.gov .

For questions, email Al Sattler alsattler@igc.org.