Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve

The Ballona Wetlands are located in Southern California, south of Marina del Rey and east of Playa del Rey. It is one of the last significant wetlands areas in the Los Angeles basin, and is named for Port Ballona and Ballona Creek which now runs through the area as a flood control channel. In the 1930s the Ballona Creek corridor was channelized in concrete, greatly reducing the inflow of salt water to the marsh, which eliminated spring floods, at the cost of freshwater to the wetlands.