Document No.: MND-RP-639-07 Machado Lake Ecosystem Routine Vegetation Management & Maintenance Program - Initial Study and Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration pdf

Council District: 15/Pacific Region

Project Address: Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park (KMHRP), 25820 Vermont Avenue, Harbor City, CA 90710

Project Description: Machado Lake is located within Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park (KMHRP), a 231-acre municipal park operated by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) within the Harbor City community of the City of Los Angeles. The proposed project involves conducting a comprehensive vegetation management and maintenance program within the Machado Lake Ecosystem. The project boundaries include the lake area as well as the surrounding areas consisting of the Wilmington Channel and riparian woodland to the north, the east and west shorelines, and the seasonal freshwater marsh downstream of the Machado Lake dam. The primary purpose of the project is to reduce excessive stands and mats of aquatic vegetation around the perimeter of the Lake, primarily Water Primrose (Ludwigia) and to a lesser extent cattails and tules, to a manageable amount. RAP will continue its practice of treating excessive vegetation with a combination of chemical and mechanical control methods. Because Ludwigia propagates when fragmented, the emergent vegetation is treated repeatedly with an aquatic herbicide and subsequently the dead plant material is removed from the Lake with mechanical harvesters. To guarantee the success of the Ludwigia removal project, the remaining root masses along the shoreline will be extracted. Additional maintenance activities that support the primary project purpose include clearing of trash and debris; removing fallen, dead or dying trees and shrubs; trimming of branches and tree limbs; mowing along the shoreline and lake edge; removing near shore vegetation and conducting brush clearance. Removal of a limited amount of invasive plants and re-vegetating those locations with native species will also be conducted on a routine basis; these maintenance activities will be adopted as mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts to biological resources to a level of less than significant. As part of the proposed project, RAP will obtain and comply with requirements from the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards (SWRCB) (RWQCB).