Cleanup Planned for Dixie Canyon

The Dixie Canyon area, long beset by the illegal dumping of items ranging from common trash to old cars and mattresses, will undergo a four-week community cleanup and restoration, beginning Monday.

Participants, including Councilman Mike Feuer and members of the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Conservation Corps and several Sherman Oaks groups, will kick off the project at 10 a.m. at Dixie Canyon Avenue between Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Benedict Canyon Drive.

“This beautiful canyon deserves to be treasured and not used as a garbage site,” Feuer said in a statement. “I am happy to help reclaim it for the well-being of its wildlife and for the enjoyment of local residents.”

Each council district receives $10,000 a year for various cleanups, and Feuer has set aside $2,500 of that for Dixie Canyon.

Feuer’s San Fernando Valley deputy, Sharon Mayer, said the cleanup will be much more intensive than casual walkers toting trash bags.

“They’re going down into the canyon with winches” to retrieve abandoned vehicles, she said. “They’ll be hauling things out and putting them in a big dumpster.”

Those interested in helping with the cleanup, expected to continue daily for four weeks, may call Feuer’s Valley office at (818) 756-8083 or Jeff Gantman of the California Environmental Project at (818) 500-1025.