The Ballona Wetlands Plan Is Back Before the Public. Here's What You Can Walk While It's Debated.

On October 23, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife opened a 45-day comment period on a Draft Revised Environmental Impact Report for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project. Written comments are due by 5 p.m. on December 7, 2026. For Del Rey, the wetlands are the open ground where Ballona Creek runs toward the ocean. Most of it is ground you can't walk on. CDFW says most of the reserve is closed to the public. This fall's revision is about a flood-engineering number. The trail layout, which matters more to a neighbor, was settled in the 2020 design and isn't being reopened. Until anything gets built, the open edges and the guided tours are how you see the reserve.

The reserve is all that remains of a wetland complex that once covered about 2,000 acres, from Playa del Rey to Venice and inland to the Baldwin Hills. The project would restore 566 of the remaining 577 acres. A plan that covers nearly the whole site would also redraw nearly every route through it.

What the revised report actually reopens

The revised report is narrower than its title suggests. In May 2023, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled on lawsuits over the 2020 environmental report. The court found two problems and upheld everything else. CDFW decertified the earlier report on September 28, 2023, and has been revising it since. The state's Notice of Availability says the revision covers only those two problems:

1. Disclosure and analysis of 68,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) as the "flood control design parameter," and
2. Commitment of CDFW to conduct additional environmental review should site conditions warrant a reduction of restoration goals or revisions to performance criteria to make them more attainable.

The notice also says that all other parts of the 2020 Final EIR "remain valid and are outside the focus of the REIR." The trails, boardwalk, bridges and levee layout were all part of the design analyzed in the 2020 Final EIR. They aren't what's under review this fall.

The 68,000 figure has a history. A May 2021 State Coastal Conservancy staff report says the project's early hydrology model used 46,000 cfs. A 1979 study had identified a future standard project flood of 68,000 cfs. The report says the project's modeling showed it could handle 68,000 cfs with "minor levee modifications," and that a new watershed model was needed to set current design criteria. The revised report is CDFW's formal analysis of that larger number.

What the revision does not settle

The revision doesn't come with a construction date. CDFW says several permits are needed before work can start, including one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change the Ballona Creek channel and levees. CDFW will work with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District on that permit. The agency says it can't predict when the permit will be issued, but expects the application to be filed "within the next two years." The agency's own wording is that it hopes to start the first phases "barring further litigation, and dependent on available funding."

The debate is already underway. In a community contributor post on Patch, a writer who calls themselves a staunch supporter of the project says the revised report found no change in flood impacts at 68,000 cfs and no need to change the project's design or footprint. The same Patch post quotes Walter Lamb of the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust: "we believe this draft is legally deficient, but only time will tell how a CEQA judge may rule." Supporters and opponents both expect the process to go on after December 7.

For anyone who uses these edges every week, the open trails described below are likely to stay as they are for a while.

The 2020 certified design, read as a trail map

Under the design certified in 2020, crews would remove about 9,800 feet of the existing Ballona Creek levees. The creek would be realigned into a more natural, winding channel and reconnected to a floodplain, for a net gain of about 200 acres of wetland. New engineered levees would be built farther back from the creek in Area A and along Culver Boulevard.

Here is how the certified design changes the ways people get around:

CDFW's FAQ adds one condition. The boardwalk may be closed during sensitive seasons, at the agency's discretion. The certified findings also say a three-story parking garage and an access road behind the Culver Boulevard businesses were studied but are not part of the project.

Taken together, the certified design keeps cyclists to the edges and opens miles of foot paths through areas that are off-limits today. Today, almost all access is from the edges, or inside on a guided visit.

Where you can walk right now

The current points of entry are scattered, and each one has its own hours. Here they are, roughly from inland toward the coast.

1. Ballona Creek Bike Path. Los Angeles County lists it at 6.7 miles, running between the Pacific Ocean at Marina del Rey and Culver City, with many access points from the street. Under the plan, this route along the creek is where the levees would change.
2. Ballona Discovery Park, 13110 Bluff Creek Drive. Open daily, dawn to dusk, according to Friends of Ballona Wetlands. Most of the group's freshwater tours start here.
3. Ballona Freshwater Marsh and the Jefferson Trail. Friends of Ballona says the marsh's L-shaped wood-chip perimeter trail and the Jefferson Trail are open dawn to dusk, and leashed dogs are allowed. The Jefferson Trail was rehabilitated and reopened in October 2024. You reach it from Bluff Creek Drive near the Playa Vista Sports Park and cross Lincoln Boulevard to the marsh trail.
4. Fiji Trail Lot. CDFW opens this lot for self-guided walking Wednesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's a short window, so check the day before you go.
5. West Culver Parking Lot, behind 301 Culver Boulevard. This lot is for guided events only, according to CDFW's reserve page. Most salt marsh visits start nearby.
6. Del Rey Lagoon, 6660 Esplanade Place, Playa del Rey. A city park run by Los Angeles Recreation and Parks, close to where the creek meets the ocean.

Outside these points, CDFW says most of the reserve is closed to the public, so the guided calendar decides when you can see more of it.

The guided calendar through December

Friends of Ballona Wetlands runs the guided visits. Public tours require registration and a digital waiver. CDFW's public meeting on the revised report appears in the table too, so every date is in one place.

November 14 has two cleanups. Besides the Friends of Ballona cleanup at 303 Culver Blvd., Ballona Creek Renaissance is holding a free fall cleanup the same morning, 9:30 a.m. to noon. That group meets on the north side of the creek near where it crosses the Marvin Braude Bike Path, by the UCLA Aquatic Center in Marina del Rey.

The Salt Marsh & Dunes tours on November 1, December 6 and December 19 start on the Culver Boulevard side, where CDFW's West Culver lot is open for guided events only.

How the public process runs

CDFW's November 12 meeting is in person, at the Los Angeles City Council District 11 office in the Westchester Municipal Building. CDFW describes it as a meeting to tell stakeholders about the revised report and how to submit comments. The CDFW project page links to the full revised report and the notice. It lists two ways to submit written comments: by mail to CDFW's office at 3883 Ruffin Road in San Diego, or by email to [email protected] with the subject line "Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project REIR Comments." Comments must arrive by 5 p.m. on December 7. For more about the streets and parks around the creek, see our Del Rey neighborhood guide and our pages on Westchester and Culver City.

If you live near Ballona Creek and want to talk through how the land and trails around your street may change over the coming years, the Alderman Birkenstock Team is glad to share what we know about these blocks. Let's Work Together.