Historical ecologists inform restoration strategies in Ventura County

Excerpts from the article:

"The California Coastal Conservancy, a public state agency that's leading the drive to return the river to something approximating its natural state, hosted a workshop on the project Thursday at the Ventura County Government Center. About 60 people from the public and private conservation worlds showed up to hear presentations on five studies of the river and the surrounding watershed."
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"The Santa Clara River is one of the last natural rivers in Southern California. Unlike the Los Angeles River, it hasn't been turned into concrete channels. But it has been altered by centuries of agriculture, development and flood control efforts, and one of the Santa Clara River Parkway group's goals is to reverse some of those effects.

For example, the river has lost more than half of its width in some places, making it more volatile in floods, according to a report by researchers Robin Grossinger and Erin Beller on the river's history.

"We've lost, in effect, some of the shock absorbers," Grossinger said.