Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Here s Why at Music Festival at Sepulveda Basin is a Bad Idea

01/04/2016

White pelicans keep company with a cormorant at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Refuge. | Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

If theres one thing we know about Angelfest, the three-day music festival proposed for the Sepulveda Basin in October, its that we dont know much about what its backers actually plan. An early draft description of the event, though, has upset a whole lot of fans of the San Fernando Valleys beleaguered wildlife. And to veteran conservationists the proposal carries with it a distinct feeling of d j vu. Weve seen this before: someone gets a bright idea and nature pays the price.

That draft proposal, said to have been modified in the environmental review process, involves building five temporary stages in Woodley Park between Woodley Avenue and the 405, upon which bands playing popular music from the last 70 years would attract as many as 60,000 ticketholders from October 7 through October 9.

The problem? That would put the music festival hard up against the 225-acre Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve, in a month in which naturalists expect migrating birds to be counting on the Reserves willows and sycamores for a much-needed bit of rest. And thats hard to do with five bands playing to tens of thousands of celebrating fans, under bright lights with occasional pyrotechnics.

--

--

Its hard to overstate the Sepulveda Basins importance to wildlife. A restored fragment of what was once a chain of wetlands and flood plains along the course of the Los Angeles River, the Wildlife Reserve offers a bit of habitat for the more than 200 species of birds that have been sighted there, including the Federally Endangered least Bells vireo. White pelicans, North Americas second-largest native bird, use the Reserve in Woodley Park as a migration pit stop in September and October.

Seasonal migration is an incredibly perilous undertaking for most birds. The amount of energy put into flying for hundreds or thousands of miles is just part of the issue. While aloft, birds must contend with a wide range of stresses from dehydration and hunger to extremes in temperature. Without enough so-called stopover habitat to provide not only fod and water but just a place to sleep for a few days, migration can often prove fatal for birds on the edge.

And that rest and recuperation is likely next to impossible if bright lights disrupt your sleep, and you must spend energy instead of conserving it contending with the unexpected sight, noise, and distracting movement of tens of thousands of revelers.

Not a great place for a nap: Coachella in 2014 | Photo: Thomas Hawk, some rights reserved

Even absent music festivals, birds at the Reserve have it tough enough. In order to protect the wildlife that uses the Reserve, the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department has crafted a list of rules for visitors that include staying on designated paths, disposing of trash in designated containers and refraining from feeding the animals - all of which would seem essentially unenforceable if 60,000 festival goers descend on the park.

For its part, Recreation and Parks, which favors the festival idea, says that the Departments share of the proceeds from the event - a $250,000 user fee paid by promoter Make Good, plus a percentage of ticket sales - will bring a much-needed infusion of cash into the department thats not vulnerable to political whims. Most of the cash would be spent in the Sepulveda Basin, but the benefit to wildlife in the Reserve is arguable. Much of the spending is projected to cover hardscape, concrete and lighting and other such infrastructure.

According to Rec and Parks Valley Superintendent Charles Singer, the initial proposal that drew so much ire from conservationists - including a petition against the festival launched by the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society, which calls the festival an existential threat to the Reserves wildlife - has been modified significantly. How so? Its hard to tell at the moment. Theres a federal draft Environmental Assessment in the works, as a result of the festivals being held on land Rec and Parks manages for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which essentially built the basin as a flood control project. That draft Environmental Assessment will gauge the degree of damage the (presumably modified) festival will do to the Reserve and other environmental resources. The document is due out in mid-April, after some delay. Once its made public, the public will be able to see just what changes the proponents have made in the festival proposal. Fewer stages? Orienting the activities away from the reserve? Well only know when the documents published.

Singer told me this week that he expects Angelfests Environmental Assessment will find the festival poses no real threat to either the wildlife in the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve or to any other part of the environment. Under federal law, if a projects Environmental Assessment results in whats called a Finding of No Significant Impact (or FONSI, an admittedly odd acronym in the context of a festival featuring music from the 1950s), then project proponents dont have to put together a full-fledged Environmental Impact Statement. Singer says that extrapolating from the hundreds of other events Rec and Parks has overseen in its history, a FONSI in Angelfests Environmental Assessment is a near-certainty.

Part of the reason proponents are confident in that FONSI is that the Environmental Assessment only covers the 2016 Angelfest. But promoters say that if 2016s festival is successful, they plan to repeat the event in subsequent years.

And thats a problem. The bird population at Sepulveda Basin might well be able to recover from the disturbance of one festival, the way they might from a week or two of really bad weather hitting a crucial bit of stopover habitat. Thus an assessment of one festival, with three da
LINK: https://www.kcet.org/redefine/heres-why-that-music-festival-at-sepulve...
See more stories from kcet

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

07/07/2026

HAND Issues Persistent Digital IDs to 50 Top 2026 MLB Draft Prospects

The Universal Talent Identifier (HAND) has issued HAND IDs to 50 top prospects ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft, including consensus top-ranked players Roch Cholowsk...

07/07/2026

Cisco and McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team Extend Technology Partnership

Cisco and the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team have announced an extension of their partnership, expanding the scope from networking and communications to incl...

07/07/2026

LucidLink Announces Enhanced Integration with Adobe Frame.io

LucidLink has announced a workflow integration with Adobe Frame.io that gives production teams unified access to Frame.io projects alongside supporting producti...

07/07/2026

Chyron Appoints Ahmed Magd as Middle East Sales Director

Chyron has announced the appointment of Ahmed Magd as Sales Director for the Middle East. Magd joins from previous senior commercial roles at Riedel Communicati...

07/07/2026

Leader Electronics T&M Equipment Used in Live Broadcast of Pope Leo XIVs Visit to Sagrada Famlia

Leader Electronics of Europe has announced that its PHABRIX Qx rasterizer and Le...

07/07/2026

eCLUTCH Secures EMEA and MENA Broadcast Rights for Esports World Cup 2026

eCLUTCH has announced it has acquired broadcast rights to the Esports World Cup 2026 for EMEA and MENA, covering the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, Sweden, a...

07/07/2026

Riedel and ARRI Support Cinematic Live Production at Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Riedel Communications and ARRI supported ORF's host broadcast of the Eurovis...

07/07/2026

ARRI Releases ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme With High-Frame-Rate SDI Output for Live Production

ARRI has announced the ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme, a camera that adds high frame rate ...

07/07/2026

IBC 2026: LiveU To Exhibit With LU900Q, Sony Integration, EcoSystem Expansion

LiveU will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 7.C24), showcasing the LU900Q Intelligent Production Unit, expanded Sony collaboration, and additions to its open IP-video...

07/07/2026

Peacock Advances Spanish-Language World Cup Streaming With Visin de Campo, Dolby Vision, Real-Time Highlights

Telemundo's coverage is packaged with Multiview, Catch Up with Key Plays, in...

07/07/2026

Australian Rugby League Commission Secures $5.3 Billion Media Rights Deal with Foxtel, Nine, and Sky NZ

The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has announced a seven-year media r...

07/07/2026

BYUtv Partners With Big 12 for Football Media Days Production

Produced onsite at The Star in Frisco, TX, live coverage of the two-day event airs on ESPN platforms The season for Football Media Days is here, and the Big 12...

07/07/2026

Rogers To Become 100% Owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Rogers Communications Inc. has announced an agreement to acquire the remaining 25% ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) from Kilmer Spo...

07/07/2026

Mobile TV Groups Nick Garvin on Success of MTVG Production Platform at New Mountain Media Center

End-to-end broadcast solution includes fleet of mobile units, Cloud Control, and...

07/07/2026

SVG Executive Perspectives 2026: Industry Leaders Discuss Biz and Tech Trends for the Year Ahead

Sports-production-tech experts sound off on the state of the industry...

07/07/2026

Mix Buddy instrument mixer from Heritage Audio

New mixer aimed squarely at instrument-level sources Heritage Audio have clearly been busy recently, as alongside their all-new Tubestrip, they've also ...

07/07/2026

Heritage Audio unveil the Tubestrip

New channel strip combines popular hardware designs The latest arrival to the Heritage Audio line-up brings together a selection of their praised hardware d...

07/07/2026

Clear-Com Powers Ross Production Services Mobile Productions

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

07/07/2026

New Nielsen data shows Kiwis' wellbeing is shaped by fitness, finance and mental health

New Kessler 10 data now available in Nielsen CMI gives brands a deeper view of h...

07/07/2026

Vitamin brands boost ad spend by 27% as 11.8 million Australians turn to supplements

New Nielsen Ad Intel and CMV data reveals rising competition in Australia's ...

07/07/2026

DAS Disputes Wiegels 3.0 EAS Limitations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

LiveU to Showcase Q Era Innovations at 2026 IBC Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

LucidLink Unifies Adobe Frame.io, Enterprise Storage

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

ARRI Introduces ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme Camera

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Riedel and ARRI Bring Cinematic Live Production to the Eu...

Riedel Communications and ARRI played a key role in one of the most technically ambitious Eurovision Song Contest productions to date. For the first time in the...

07/07/2026

Berklee Valencia Honors Eric Whitacre at the 2026 Commencement Ceremony

Berklee Valencia Honors Eric Whitacre at the 2026 Commencement Ceremony The Grammy-winning composer was celebrated alongside this years cohort of masters degr...

07/07/2026

Disagreements Abound Over the Adequacy of C-Band Replacements

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Cameras Become More Connected to Production Workflows

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

NFL on TV: Time to Move the Regulatory Goal Posts?

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Building a Future-Ready Facility for Tomorrow's Broadcasters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Rewriting the Control Room: How Broadcasters Are Going Remote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Fincons Group appoints Andrea Fravega as Global BU Media...

The appointment will drive growth and innovation across the Media Business Unit Fincons Group, a leading IT business consultancy and systems integrator company...

07/07/2026

Big Blue Marble debuts next-gen ultra low latency MoQ str...

International broadcast and streaming expert Big Blue Marble has announced a multi-month Proof of Concept (PoC) for Media over QUIC (MoQ) during a major interna...

07/07/2026

Leader provides Test and Measurement for global broadcast...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, is proud to announce that two of its leading products, the PHABRIX Qx rasterizer and LeaderPhabrix L...

07/07/2026

Clear-Com Powers Ross Production Services Mobile Producti...

Clear-Com announced that Ross Production Services (RPS), a leading provider of mobile production solutions for live events and broadcasts, has standardized on ...

07/07/2026

Q Era Innovations Take Center Stage for LiveU at IBC2026

LiveU redefined live newsgathering with the invention of cellular bonding. At IBC2026, Stand 7.C24, the company will show how that foundation is evolving into t...

07/07/2026

Camera to Cloud Meets Camera to Timeline LucidLink Unifi...

LucidLink, a leader in cloud-based file services for content creators, today announced an enhanced workflow integration between LucidLink and Adobe Frame.io tha...

07/07/2026

Comcast's Sky to Acquire ITV Media and Entertainment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems Details ATSC 3.0 EAS Capabilities to FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

New appointments to Screen Australia board

New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026 The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board. Dr Tania Chamber...

07/07/2026

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck to their creative guns.

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...

07/07/2026

Record audiences tune into the ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2026 on Sky Sports

Tuesday 7 July 2026 Record audiences tune into the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 on Sky Sports The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 was the most watche...

07/07/2026

Official trailer released for Fightland, a revenge drama from executive producer Curtis 50 Cent Jackson coming August to Sky and NOW

Tuesday 7 July 2026 Official trailer released for Fightland, a revenge drama fr...

07/07/2026

Riedel and ARRI Bring Cinematic Live Production to the Eurovision Song Contest

Wuppertal July 7, 2026 Riedel and ARRI Bring Cinematic Live Production to the Eurovision Song ContestRiedel Communications and ARRI played a key role in one o...

07/07/2026

Seven paradoxes shaping the next era of media production - Episode 2

How MXL Connects More Than Media In this series, we explore the technologies, architectures and operational realities shaping modern media operations. Along the...

07/07/2026

Patrick Kielty in The Late Late Chair until 2028

To Whom It Concerns RT today confirmed that Patrick Kielty is to extend his contract as host of The Late Late Show. Last season, the world's longest-runn...