[1][2] The basin is a remnant of the historic Ballona Valley ecosystem and one of the last remaining intertidal mud flat habitats in Los Angeles County.

[3][4] Oxford Basin collects urban runoff from a 600-acre (2.4 km2) watershed and remediates it in part through the use of bioswales, low-flow storm drain diversions, native landscaping and a circulation berm.

[10] Improvements included “flooding and runoff improvements…new fencing and signage, observation areas, lighting and a walking path.”[4] Some 3,000 cubic yards of polluted sediment was removed from the site.

[11] Some 650 existing plants and trees were removed, including non-native eucalyptus used seasonally by nesting birds and resting monarch butterflies.

[15] Oxford Basin as we know it today was built in 1959 during the creation of the Marina Del Rey small-boat harbor “on the site of an old municipal dump, to prevent flooding in nearby communities.”[10][16] (“Several of the streets and properties in the area surrounding Oxford Basin are near or below the high-tide level in the marina.”)[17] In 1963 it was named the Marina Del Rey County Bird Conservation Area thanks in part to advocacy by the Audubon Society.