Ballona Lagoon

The Ballona Lagoon is a soft-bottomed channel and 16-acre (65,000 m2)[1] tidal marsh in the Marina Peninsula neighborhood of Los Angeles that feeds the Venice Canals with water from the Pacific Ocean via a tide gate.As described in a 1981 legal filing: The Lagoon in its present configuration is a narrow elongated area covered by very shallow water and is separated from the ocean by a strand or bar of beach sand.That additional area is now dry land as a result of filling and development and natural conditions.”[7]The tide gates replace as much as 95 percent of the lagoon’s water daily.[11][12][13] Improvements included viewing platforms, fencing, signage, native California plants authentic to the pre-development ecology of the area, dredging six feet (1.8 m) down at the tidal inlet to create fish spawning habitat, and building an island for nesting birds.[12] Further refurbishment took place in 2011, when the city added dog fencing, stabilized the banks of the waterway, and reseeded the rare wildflower called Orcutt’s yellow pincushion.
Lighthouse Street Bridge
Public access trail
Primary inflowsPrimary outflowstidal marshMarina PeninsulaLos AngelesVenice CanalsPacific Oceantide gatesharp turnVenice BoulevardBallona ValleyDel Rey LagoonMarina Del Reysalt marshRancho Ballonaclosed-spandrelAbbot KinneyVenice of CaliforniaHistoric-Cultural Monumentlighthousesnauticalalphabetical orderOrcutt’s yellow pincushionmarine biologyavocetscurlewssandpipershigh tidelow tidecoastal buckwheatbeach-sand verbenapickleweedbig saltbushCalifornia brittlebushlemonade berrysnowy egretsgreat blue heronscormorantskingfishersmergansershorn snailsfiddler crabshermit crabsCalifornia musselssea anemoneschitonslimpetsvolcano barnaclesinnkeeper wormssea haresCalifornia least ternhalibuttopsmelt silversideLagoons of CaliforniaFleming, Charles