Marina del Rey Sell-Out: Heron Wars

(Excerpt from Chinatown County: The Sell-Out of Marina del Rey)

As this book was about to go to print, the County dropped another bombshell.


3 heron chicks in Mariners Village Rookery. Photo by Lina Shanklin, all rights reserved.

It planned to permit the refurbishing and lease extension on a village-style apartment complex on the picturesque northern side of the Marina inlet known as Mariner’s Village.

There was only one problem with this rebuilding scheme. This complex of 28 low-level residential units inset with gardens and bunches of tall trees is the last refuge of the great blue heron in the Marina. By cutting down all the existing trees and undertaking a noisy rebuilding over ten years — herons don’t like noise — the project threatened to drive out the herons completely.


Cormorants attempting to nest in trimmed trees. Photo by Lina Shanklin, all rights reserved.

The birds’ troubles in the Marina began in 2000 with what became popularly known as the ‘heron wars’. The owners of the apartment block Villa Venetia across the waters on the southern side of the Marina inlet objected to the clucking sound the herons made during nesting and the layer of white guano manure it deposited on their roadways. But their main objection was that the herons stood in the way of their construction plans.

Pair of great blue herons at dawn.
Photo by Lina Shanklin, all rights reserved.

They tried to sneak in a tree cutting team early one morning. But from an upper level apartment in their building a heron lover was watching. When the tree cutters’ bulldozers arrived on the scene they were blocked by scores of opponents. One hardy protester even climbed a tree to force them to back off. Newspaper reporters and photographers turned up. State and County authorities were called in and an agreement was reached that there would be no cutting or trimming of trees in heron nesting season.

With a change of ownership and the fact that the heron wars story gradually lost its media pizzazz, the Villa Venetia was eventually able to get what it wanted. In two tree cutting events popularly known as “Chainsaw Massacre I” and “Chainsaw Massacre II” they succeeded in cutting down the rookery trees.

Great blue heron rookery at dawn.
Photo by Lina Shanklin, all rights reserved.

The nesting herons were driven out of the Villa Venetia area and took up residence in Mariner’s Village across the way, joining other herons who had been nesting at this site since the late 1980’s.

The brutal assault on the heron rookeries stirred an unfavorable public reaction. The California Coastal Commission took up the defense of the rookeries. A Commission official stated: “We are fully prepared to intervene if anyone pulls out their chainsaws.” In 2008 the Marina herons were given the very highest of wildlife protection under the California Coastal Act. Their nesting and roosting sites were designated as Endangered Species Habitat Areas (ESHA).

Netted trees to prevent nesting and roosting.
Photo by Lina Shanklin, all rights reserved.

But in October 2011 after a new director took over at the Coastal Commission, an intense lobbying effort by the County and its lessees resulted in the ESHA protection being withdrawn.
In its place both County and lessees promised they would continue to support protections given to the herons.

Yet, as with most County undertakings, these promises were almost immediately broken. The heron wars were about to begin anew. Mariner’s Village soon after engaged in a stealth war of trimming trees and cutting out heron’s nests. One Mariner’s Village renter heard tree cutting being done at midnight. The plans that the owners of Mariner’s Village put to the the Marina Design Control Board in March 2014 called for the removal of every existing tree in the village.

To its everlasting credit, the Design Control Board unanimously rejected the Mariner’s Village plan and called for the lessees to come back with another plan which took into account public objections. But with the Design Control Board no longer in a position to impose its will, having been stripped of its initial review powers by the County in 2008, Marina residents expect that the County will rapidly lose patience with the Design Control Board and push through the Mariner’s Village proposals at a higher level.

Despite the setbacks the heron population has suffered — experts say nests in 2014 will probably be down by half from their peak — Marcia Hanscom, a leading heron supporter, remains eternally optimistic the County will recognize the importance of the herons as a wildlife tourist attraction and will move to protect their rookeries.

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Heron Wars