Bixby Slough was an ancient wetland in Los Angeles County, California.
Southern half of Bixby Slough and west basin of Los Angeles Harbor visible in 1932 aerial photograph of San Pedro harbor area
Sloughs and rivers of San Pedro Bay, 1900 (note that prior name of Dominguez Slough incorporated a racial epithet; Bixby Slough is bottom left)
Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve
The Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve occupies 13.6 acres (55,000 m2) of land owned by the City of Gardena, in Los Angeles County, California. The preserve is the last intact remnant of the former Dominguez Slough, an important vernal marsh and riparian forest with riparian zones that once covered as much as 400 acres (1,600,000 m2) of this area, known as the South Bay region. The preserve has 9.4 acres (38,000 m2) of wetland and 4.2 acres (17,000 m2) of upland. The wetlands have a natural depression where water remains for such a significant time that plants and animals not adapted to water and saturated soils cannot survive. The upland, which remains dry outside of the rainy season, supports plants which thrive with these drier conditions. The slough is a part of the Dominguez Watershed, 96% of which is now covered with concrete and man-made structures. Located on the traditional lands of the Tongva, it is believed that these indigenous people were able to commute by canoe around much of the area. Tongva villages were located throughout much of what is now Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well as three southern Channel Islands as distant as 60 miles (97 km) from the coast of Los Angeles County.
Entrance gate
Los Angeles Audubon members looking for the rule wren in the Slough
Birds in the Dominguez Slough, photographed in 1913 for the journal The Oölogist for the student of birds, their nests and eggs