Ballona Ecosystem etc. v. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

This action is a challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s certification of a project to enhance and establish certain habitats in the Ballona wetlands ecosystem in Los Angeles County. Ballona Ecosystem Education Project, a nonprofit environmental organization (the Organization), argues the Department’s environmental impact report (EIR) for the project was deficient in numerous respects. We conclude the EIR met the requirements under CEQA to describe the project and a reasonable range of alternatives to the proposed action and to provide detail sufficient for the public to understand and comment on the project. We also conclude the Department sufficiently addressed and responded to comments concerning potential short- and long-term impacts to the protected white- tailed kite. Therefore, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve The Ballona wetlands ecosystem once spanned more than 2,100 acres that stretched from Playa del Rey to Venice and inland to Baldwin Hills and that supported diverse wetland…