Film Review: Nature’s Last Stand: Saving the Ballona Wetlands


By Karl Abrams

This beautifully filmed 17-minute documentary is a most-see multi-award winning eye-opener showing both the beauty of the lush Ballona Wetlands (the largest remaining coastal wetland in Los Angeles County) along side the harsh and looming overdevelopment proposals known as Playa Vista, the largest in the history of Los Angeles.


Written, filmed, directed, and produced by activist Bruce Robertson over a three year period, “Natures Last Stand” is now available in DVD format (copyright 2006). Robertson treats the viewer with beautiful wildlife footage of this delicate square-mile ecosystem located south of Venice Beach and north of LAX. The endangered Least Tern and the Great Blue Heron, along with coyotes, gophers, crabs, and kit foxes are all photographed at play and in danger of being utterly destroyed by the nefarious Playa Vista plan.

You can also cheer on the dedicated people of the Ballona Wetlands Preservation League, the Office of the Controller, and over 80 other organizations fighting back as they seek to permanently protect 600 acres of the Ballona Wetlands.

You can holler and hiss at the developers who seem oblivious to the astounding environmental toll that Playa Vista creates: at least 29,000 new permanent residents, 1800 condos, and 5.5 million square feet of office space with thousands of office workers (twice that of Century City). This would result in 49,000 new commuters, 200,000 new car trips, 28% more cars on the 405 Freeway, and two times the number of cars on Lincoln Blvd.

The film is also educational in terms of the film’s follow-up presentations. There are an additional 59 minutes of major news coverage (25 news clips) from 1995 to 1999, a “victory party” slide show showing that people in solidarity can and will stop the Playa Vista development, as well as a complete media library of the 27-year struggle to save the Ballona Wetlands.

The film makes you want to get involved. The first thing the reviewer did was to walk through the wetlands and appreciate the beauty, and wonder at the audacity of those who would destroy it.

Posted: Sat - July 1, 2006 at 01:10 PM          

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