Melanie Winter, who dedicated much of her life to reimagining the Los Angeles River as a natural asset, has died. She was 67 years old.
Ms. Winter has worked tenaciously for nearly 30 years to promote an alternative vision for the river and its watershed, calling for “deconstruction” where practicable, removal of concrete, and revitalization of the natural floodplains from which the river could spread.
She, who heads the nonprofit River Project, championed efforts to embrace nature along rivers, saying that making space for winding waterways surrounded by riparian forests can recharge groundwater, reduce flood risk and allow a thriving green oasis in the heart of Los Angeles.
She developed an ambitious plan to rewild parts of the river channel and its neighborhoods, and helped spearhead a new riparian park and neighborhood project that replaced asphalt with permeable pavement, allowing rainwater to percolate underground rather than flowing through concrete channels to the ocean.
“She was an advocate for nature and an advocate for the river,” said Rita Kampalas, Los Angeles County’s chief sustainability officer and a longtime friend of Winter’s. “She had very strong beliefs and wanted to move forward with a clear vision, and I think that was an inspiration to a lot of people.”
Winter had lung cancer, but despite her declining health, she continued to work and attend local water meetings. She died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital where friends were visiting to spend her final moments together.
“I think what always drove her was the feeling that it was a river trapped in concrete…and that nature-based solutions could do a better job,” said Connor Everts, a friend and leader of the Southern California Watershed Alliance. “Her goal was to recreate a naturally meandering river with the ability to recharge the (San Fernando) Valley and restore it as much as possible.”
Winter was born in 1958 and grew up in the Valley.
She was a talented dancer and moved to New York City at the age of 17 to begin her career as a dancer and actor. She appeared in Broadway shows and several Hollywood films, and also found work as a photographer, taking black-and-white portraits of actors such as Bruce Willis, Helen Hunt, and Val Kilmer.
She left and returned to Los Angeles in 1991, where she was drawn to other art forms and social activities.
In 1993, she created and installed a cemetery-like installation on her lawn to raise awareness about breast cancer.
She organized a river cleanup for the group Friends of the Los Angeles River. Then, in 1996, a key moment occurred. It was when I attended that meeting that I heard activists eloquently talk about how the waterways were rid of concrete channels and how the city could make room for the river again. Green became her mentor.
Winter briefly performed with Friends of the Los Angeles River, but left in 2001 to start a new career.
She sued developers and the city to challenge development plans along the river, and organized a community coalition to push for a new state park. In 2007, she and others celebrated the opening of .
Winter spoke passionately about the need for a network of parks “along the backbone system of waterways,” which he said would revitalize ecosystems, improve air quality and protect public health. Lush shade plants along the restored river will provide natural cooling and help the city become more resilient to climate change, she said.
“I want to reverse engineer a better future,” Winter said in a 2024 interview. “It’s not going to be a concrete river, it’s going to be a living river.”
In the face of resistance from engineers and local officials who preferred a traditional hard infrastructure approach, Winter remained steadfast and uncompromising.
“Engineers can’t wrap their heads around the idea that nature can do it cheaper, better, and easier than they can,” she says. “I believe that if we want a more livable Los Angeles, fundamentally changing the way we treat our waterways is at the heart of everything.”
Three years ago, her group outlined a proposal to restore the Sepulveda Basin’s rivers and their tributaries, transform the area into the valley’s “green heart,” reduce the size of three golf courses, and open wide corridors for rivers and streams to spread across the floodplain.
Winter said she was disappointed that the city failed to release a plan for the area and prioritize restoration.
“Although she encountered a lot of resistance over the years, she never lost her optimism and strong desire to make positive changes,” said Melissa von Meyerhauser, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, who interviewed Ms. Winter for her research and became her friend. “I was inspired by her vision and incorporated it into my own research, and I plan to continue my career in river restoration.”
Winter’s legacy includes not only the parks and neighborhood projects she completed, but also important plans and concepts that can still be adopted throughout the watershed and along other rivers, she said.
“Thanks to Melanie, more people than ever before are imagining a living L.A. River,” she said.
Near Winter’s home in Studio City is a small riverside park shaded by cottonwoods, where native plants attract hummingbirds. There are butterfly-shaped benches, a retaining wall carved with snakes, and a green metal gate with a giant toad-shaped arch.
In the early 2000s, Winter began envisioning a park called , and invited a group of fourth- and fifth-grade students to help design the garden’s landscape.
When building the park, Winter said it’s not just about planting a garden, it’s also about instilling in children a connection to the river.
Learning about the river has created a group of children with “a strong sense of place and a fierce determination to protect what’s left and bring back as much as possible,” she said.
