Conservationists want to apply for millions of federal dollars, use the money to buy up land along the 51-mile urban waterway, and then destroy some of what man has built to get back to nature.

"It's sort of a zany idea for anyone who doesn't know anything about the river except that it's a box channel off the freeway," said Dan Cooper, author of "Important Bird Areas of California." "But those of us who spend a lot of time birding there or biking there, we just know there's a lot to be saved."

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which is pursuing the idea, hopes to persuade a member of Congress to submit a refuge proposal by the end of the year. It said it has no estimate yet of how much money will be needed.

The first step, however, could be convincing officials and residents the river has the potential to become Los Angeles' version of Central Park.

"Ask people, `Where in Los Angeles can you see great blue herons and five or six species of ducks?' They'd say, 'You mean the concrete flood control channel? You're crazy,'" Joe Edmiston, executive director of the state-funded conservancy.

link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_re_us/la_wildlife_refuge)