"[2] Ballona is a "fragile, self-sustaining bog, fed by both fresh and salt water…This and other major wetlands of the Los Angeles Basin, including Bixby Slough…have been largely filled in for urban development.

The remaining open space of what was once the vast Rancho la Ballona has been the subject of a battle between developers and environmentalists that has been ongoing for decades.

Eighty-three acres (340,000 m2) of estuarine wetland were included in the state acquisition, previously privately owned by Howard Hughes, his corporate heirs and the subsequent developers of Playa Vista.

Numerous environmental lawsuits and the acquisition of a part of the Wetlands by the State of California has helped to protect nearly all the open space west of Lincoln Blvd.

The freshwater marsh, located on the corner of Lincoln and Jefferson, was built in 2003 by the corporation that was building the adjacent Playa Vista neighborhood.

[3] The creation of the Freshwater Marsh has been described as "wildly successful, providing rich native habitat and regulated access for people, where degraded land once dominated.

They're also fish nurseries, water and air filtration systems, places for groundwater to refill aquifers, and buffer zones that help protect human homes and other property from floods.

"[9] Wetland flora includes pickleweed, alkali heath, saltgrass, salt marsh dodder, arrowgrass, glasswort, and upland species like coyote bush and goldenbush.

"[27] Rarities (such as the bald eagle that visited the winter of 1977-78) aside, the majority of the bird population at water's edge are "the more common plovers, willets, sanderlings, curlews and killdeer.

It is the best beach—except Newport—to hunt them now but what it was and what it is are vastly different.Bird species of special interest observed in the reserve include nesting pairs of Belding's Savannah sparrow and foraging California least terns.

[31] There are several reptile species present,[32] including the San Diego legless lizard and a geographically isolated population of Southern Pacific rattlesnakes.

During the expansion of Playa Del Rey in 1911, a California paper retold this history: An "old-timer," who told stories about the area between 1876 and 1890, recalled, "There were but a few trees in the valley at that time and standing on the hills back of the depot, one could see the breakers rolling over the sand dunes at Playa Del Rey, about four miles south of Palms, which at that time was called William Tell's Lake.

In January 1976, four months prior to the death of Howard Hughes, which would kick off the current era of Ballona's long history, the wetland was described by a resident of Playa Del Rey.

"[40] In 1995, as the development process for Playa Vista was underway, the L.A. Times' nutshell history of Ballona's 20th century was this: "The Ballona Wetlands, near Marina Del Rey, are about all that remains of 1800 acres of marsh that once stretched from Venice south to the bluffs of Playa Del Rey, providing natural flood control and sustaining hundreds of plant and animal species.

In December 2020, California Department of Fish and Wildlife certified the final environmental impact report for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project and selected a preferred alternative.

[42] On May 17, 2023, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ordered the final environmental impact report to be decertified.

Groups opposed include the Los Angeles Audubon Society, Grassroots Coalition, and Ballona Wetlands Land Trust.

"[49] Another writer visiting the freshwater marsh observed, "Though the sound of traffic is consistent, just feet away is another world filled with plants, wildlife and the song of birds.

Ballona Freshwater Marsh can be viewed during daylight hours from a .75-mile (1.21 km) (one-way) walking path along Jefferson and Lincoln Boulevards.

Area A is accessible from Fiji Way, opposite Fisherman's Village in Marina Del Rey, or from an entrance along the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

Ballona Discovery Park (1.7 acres)[55] is outside the boundary of the state-owned preserve but is located across the street, next to Bluff Creek, within the adjacent Playa Vista development.