Canoeists Race to Goal of a More Natural River

The Los Angeles River--or a very small stretch of it, at least--looked more like something out of “A River Runs Through It” on Monday as five environmentalist groups challenged one another to the Great Los Angeles River Canoe Race at Lake Balboa Park.

A city councilman, various board members, founders and presidents of the environmental groups as well as one environmentalist actor donned life vests and took up paddles, using their muscles in ways most probably hadn’t used them in years.

Although 45 miles of the 58-mile river is now a concrete-lined flood-control channel, the race was held on a stretch running through the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area that still has a natural bottom and tree-lined, sandy banks.

“Today really is only a tryout,” said Denis Schure, a board member of Friends of the Los Angeles River and rear paddler in a birch-bark canoe that was used in filming “The Last of the Mohicans.”

“But we do want the public to see what is possible.”

Canoeing is usually not allowed there, but the city issued special permits for the race, he said.

The event was an attempt to influence the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors against directing the Army Corps of Engineers to add higher concrete walls to the lower river in the Long Beach area, which the environmentalists said would make their campaign to return the river to a more natural state more difficult.

The board is expected to vote today on whether to reconsider the $300-million plan approved last year.

Beginning in the 1930s, the Corps of Engineers lined the river channel with concrete to control the flooding that regularly devastated parts of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley and to prevent the river, which flowed only seasonally, from changing course into inhabited areas after heavy rains.

However, the environmentalists argue that a more natural solution is now possible, such as using parks, trees and fields along the river that would help absorb and divert the flow of water.

“Fifty years ago, that was the cheapest way to do it,” said Councilman Marvin Braude, the lead paddler on the Friends of the Los Angeles River canoeing team. “But there’s a better way. We don’t have to do it the way they did 50 years ago.”

Reporters and photographers covering the 100-yard race of five canoes had to balance on steppingstones in the water at Lake Balboa Park. One photographer slipped into ankle-deep water, and spectators were sprayed by a dog shaking off river water from a quick dip among water-logged weeds.

Andy Lipkis, founder of TreePeople, led a small, modern two-man canoe to victory--twice--ahead of a field that included Heal the Bay founding president Dorothy Green and representatives of the Sierra Club.

Lipkis’ initial win was contested.

“Cheaters,” said a laughing Mark Ryavec, a board member of the American Oceans Campaign, after Lipkis crossed the yellow-rope finish line the first time. “You guys had a false start.”

In a halfhearted rematch, Lipkis won again and some of his competitors didn’t even bother crossing the finish line. But then the race turned into a news conference with questions being answered from the birch-bark canoe as a dragonfly hovered nearby.

“One day this river will go all the way downtown like this,” said Braude from the Friends of the River canoe, which came in second in the rematch. “People will be able to sit on park benches and smell the flowers.”

The canoeists talked about their previous paddling experience--the Boy Scouts were often cited--in addition to serious environmental issues. Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. conceded that while he canoed as a Scout, he never earned the merit badge.

“I wasn’t a star in that, then or now,” said Begley.