The ban on single-use plastic grocery bags has made a terrific difference in our natural places. One example is at Haskell Creek in the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area, one of those unexpected swaths of nature that dots the larger Los Angeles megalopolis.

Our friends at the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society have taken a special interest in this place, leading birding walks there regularly, and advocating for the protection of habitat. The area hosts a huge diversity of waterfowl, as well as Pied-billed Grebes, Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night-herons, American Coots, Anna's Hummingbirds, Cliff Swallows, Blue Grosbeaks.

According to the Dave Weeshoff, the chapter’s conservation chair, volunteers used to find the area’s Haskell Creek loaded with plastic bags during their bi-annual clean-up days. “The number of bags there in the creek as dropped significantly since the ban went into effect,” Weeshoff says.

The San Fernando Valley Audubon Society hasn’t taken a position on Proposition 67, which will affirm that statewide ban on single-use plastic grocery bags. But Weeshoff says he’s certainly not looking forward to seeing things returned to the way they were in Haskell Creek.

Audubon California has endorsed Proposition 67, arguing that plastic bags are both a danger to birds and a blight in our natural open spaces and communities.