Perception is reality. This is undoubtedly true when talking about the Los Angeles River.

What was called a concrete tomb, a 51-mile ditch bisecting forgotten neighborhoods far from the glitter of Hollywood and the verdant Santa Monica Mountains, or ignored altogether is now seen, recognized, even celebrated as a real urban river with unlimited potential. In particular, an 11.5-mile stretch in Elysian Valley that includes the Glendale Narrows has water year-round, a dirt bottom for absorption, birds, turtles, parks and the occasional kayaker.

“Our founder, Lewis MacAdams, would go to public meetings and whenever it was called the flood-control channel he would pipe up and correct them and say ‘river.’ Because it is more than a channel. It is an historical and ecologically rich river,” said Marissa Christiansen, executive director of Friends of Los Angeles River (FoLAR).

Volunteer Mac Johnston, Associate Executive Director of the North Valley Family YMCA, hauls a bag of trash from the riverbed as part of the fifteenth Earth Day Community Cleanup held at Limekiln Canyon Park in Porter Ranch on Saturday, April 21, 2018. (Photo by Dan Watson)

Kyle Gower wrestles an ottoman out of the San Gabriel River jetty in Seal Beach during a beach cleanup day in 2010. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, The Orange County Register/SCNG).

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Amil Gupta joins hundreds of volunteers as they wade into the river bed at the 29th Annual LA River Cleanup held at the Sepulveda Basin – Balboa Park in Van Nuys on Saturday, April 14th, 2018. (Photo by Dan Watson)

Robert Locka, right, and a members of the Mountain Recreation & Conservation Authority drag an old bed spring to a truck filled with trash for removal at the 29th Annual LA River Cleanup held at the Sepulveda Basin – Balboa Park in Van Nuys on Saturday, April 14, 2018. (Photo by Dan Watson)

Mark Fischer makes his way with his canoe to the LA River area in the Sepulveda Basin on Monday, May 18, 2018. Kayakers may begin at Burbank Boulevard, west of Woodley Avenue. (Photo by Gene Blevins/LA Daily News/SCNG)



Young participants search for trash at the April 2018 LA River Cleanup at Bond Park in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles (Photo courtesy of FoLAR)

Earth Day on April 22 marks the 30th anniversary of the first FoLAR cleanup event. The nonprofit is hosting three cleanup days during Earth Month starting Saturday and continuing on April 20 and April 27. The group expects 7,000 volunteers, about 10,000 by the end of the year, making FoLAR’s events the largest river cleanup in the country.

From the first LA River cleanup in April 1989 when 10 people showed up to the thousands that arrive on the river banks each April, the group has attracted 70,000 volunteers who have collectively removed 700 tons of trash in 29 years, the group reported.

LA River cleanup events and moving the needle of public perception go hand-in-hand. Many argue the cleanup events are the No. 1 reason for the nonprofit’s successes in making the LA River a cause celeb.

How did thousands of people picking up trash in muddy, smelly conditions year after year help to make plans, attract funding and supporters for slowly turning a concrete channel into a thriving wetland?

Christiansen said the cleanup events produce the most tangible impact of any environmental cause in the United States.

“This is how we get people to the table,” she said during an interview Thursday. “By caring about the river. By feeling a sense of ownership to the river.”

MacAdams emphasized a personal connection. Even if it meant picking up trash along a dry riverbed, the natural ecology would peak through and touch their senses, Christiansen said.

“Their own imaginations would take over. Then you start to build that widespread inspiration,” she added.

She points out that in the early days, just getting others to talk about the “river” was a goal. Today, nearly every politician, from the city of Los Angeles, county, state and national offices mention the efforts to revitalize the river in stump speeches. often reminded by the voters. Again, the cleanups have put the LA River into the political conversation, she said.

“Over the past decade that has really shifted,” she said. “The elected officials who have the river in their district have recognized the significance — that it is important for their constituents to reestablish a connection to nature right here in the city.”

In the southern section, there’s more concrete and high fences, she said. Long Beach, for example, has sponsored the cleanup events this year as a way to rid its river region of trash..

“The River connects many cities in our county and here in Long Beach we’re the last stop in our watershed before trash and debris reach our beaches and ocean. That’s why mobilizing volunteers to remove waste from our environment is crucial work …,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a prepared statement.

Three days of cleanup events include 11 sites along the entire length of the LA River. Dates and locations are as follows:

Saturday, April 13: Upper River: Sepulveda Basin/Balboa Sports Complex; Haskell Creek; Bette Davis Picnic Area and Glendale Narrows Riverwalk;

Saturday, April 20: Mid River: Los Feliz Boulevard at Bond Park; Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park; Bowtie Parcel at Fletcher Drive; Arroyo Seco Confluence;

Saturday, April 27: Lower River: Compton Creek at Del Mar Metro Station; Willow Street Estuary; Golden Shore Marine Reserve.

Plans call for restoring the stretch north of downtown LA in hopes of attracting steelhead trout at a cost of $1.1 billion.

A big vote on a first project is coming before the Los Angeles City Council in July, Christiansen said. The city will present design concepts for the Taylor Yard river front park.

To register or for more information, go to http://folar.org/cleanup-2019.