Local News in Brief : Huntington Beach : $50,000 Grant Awarded for Wetlands Projects
The County of Orange has been awarded $50,000 from the California Coastal Conservancy to develop a plan to restore and improve the wetlands and wildlife habitat near the mouth of the Santa Ana River.
The wetlands once spread over a 30-square-mile area along the river between the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. But development has reduced the riparian habitat to several hundred acres of poorly irrigated wetlands and even that is in danger of vanishing, experts say.
Peter Granell of the Oakland-based conservancy said the grant would be spent on a wetland enhancement plan for the area. The plan is expected to address such concerns as improving tidal flow in the wetlands, building islands and nesting mounds for migrating birds and developing a network of hiking trails in the area.
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