Sierra Club Opposes Camp Bloomfield
Expansion Plans
Plans for the expansion and remodeling of
Camp Bloomfield, a facility located off Mulholland Highway and
operated by the Junior Blind of America, have encountered
opposition from the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.
A resolution approved by the executive
committee states the chapter’s opposition to the plans
that they are convinced will require the “removal of 25
oaks and the encroachment on 56 more in an oak and riparian
Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area.”
The environmental organization also opposes
plans to “fill portions of a steelhead spawning stream in
order to widen the road serving the camp.”
There were some concerns among club members
that opposition to the Junior Blind plans could tarnish the
image of the Sierra Club if it is seen as attacking a camp for
blind children.
Another argument against the club taking an
opposing view is that the road widening is required by the Los
Angeles County Fire Department, which insists the road widening
is essential to enable the safe evacuation of children from the
camp in the event of a wildfire.
However, those concerns were overshadowed
by what club members were told concerning the spawning of
steelhead in the Arroyo Sequit.
They were told the Arroyo Sequit still
supports a spawning run of the “southern evolutionary
unit” of the steelhead (Onorynchus Mykiss), which was
declared an endangered species in 1999.
Streams accessible to steelhead west of
Malibu Canyon, including Arroyo Sequit have been designated
“crucial habitat.”
Some experts, according to the Sierra Club,
believe it is the “southern evolutionary unit,”
which is the original progenitor of all steelhead in the North
Pacific. The fish is said to have the ability to tolerate
warmer water temperatures than other steelhead, making it
possibly the key to survival of the entire species in the face
of global warming.
According to the Sierra Club, state and
federal park officials have all verified the existence of
spawning steelhead in the Arroyo Sequit above and below Camp
Bloomfield.
One club member talked about walking the
route of the proposed driveway a couple of years ago. “It
was clear to me beyond any doubt that widening the driveway to
20 feet would necessitate removal of many oak trees, some of
which shade the stream and keep the waters cool enough to
support steelhead,” he said.
Club members were told the wider driveway
would have to encroach into the 50-foot-wide ESHA established
in 1986, requiring either a deep cut into the wooded bank on
one side or the filling of the stream on the other to make room
for the road. One section of the riparian forest had already
been removed from a section of the Arroyo Sequit and that part
of the stream had been lined with concrete, according to the
Sierra Club account.
Several months ago, the California Coastal
Commission issued a notice of violation citing unpermitted
development, removal and pruning of chaparral and mature oaks
and deposition of material in a riparian area.
Junior Blind officials have attempted to
shrug off the difficulties they have encountered by continually
alleging that a disgruntled neighbor, Joe Kronsberg, is the
real culprit.
However, while Kronsberg makes no attempt
to hide that he has tried to gain the ears of anyone or any
agency that will listen to him, his allegations have apparently
been taken seriously with ongoing investigations and orders
from the various agencies for the Junior Blind to show them how
their plans impact state and federal regulations.
