1. On Thursday, June 25th, LAWA Maintenance and Environmental
staff met L.A. Zoo staff in the dunesfor their weekly trimming of
non-native plants to supply food for their hooved African and
Australian species. With the usual cuttings from the Acacia and
Ficus plants, the LAZoo gathers food for their animals while
helping with the El Segundo Blue Butterfly (ESBB) Preserve’s
progresstowardsbeing restored with native plants and animals.
This Thursday’strip also welcomed a new Zoo representative,
Damian Lechner, the Koala Keeper in charge of the marsupials
at the L.A. Zoo. Damian came to LAXin response to a request
by Jose De Loera, AirportMaintenance Superintendent, to
explore the possibility of giving Eucalyptus tree materials being
removed from the El Segundo Dune Preserve and the LAX
airfield to the Zoo’s koalas. In the Dunes, the trees are
unwelcome non-native plants. On the airfield, these trees, due
to their possibility of becoming perchesfor birdshazardousto
airplanes, were destined to be cut down. However, with the
Zoo’sneed for fresh Eucalyptus for the koalas, a new
partnership wasformed. Only one of the two species of
Eucalyptus examined were determined to be the optimal
species of Eucalyptusfor the Koalas. With LAWA staff and
volunteer help, the Zoo collected a truck full of Eucalyptus
branchesto feed to the koalas. LAWA and the L.A. Zoo hope to
continue this partnership for as long asthe plants produce the
quality of Eucalyptus needed by the koalas.
—Asia Antoniuk—
LA Zoo Koala - LAWA Eucalyptus Partnership
Shown bottom left: Asia Antoniuk, Air Force Academy student who
volunteered with LAWA’s ELUP Division and Damian Lechner, Koala
Keeper in charge of the marsupials at the L.A. Zoo
Shown bottom right: Damian Lechner, LA Zoo staff and Peggy Nguyen,
ELUP Environmental Specialist III