Notes about your surroundings.

WETLANDS UPDATE: Restoration of the Huntington Beach Wetlands, a 17-acre parcel on the inland side of Pacific Coast Highway between Brookhurst Street and the Santa Ana River, is proceeding rapidly, state Fish and Game biologist Esther Burkett said.

The site is being graded to allow the circulation of tidal water. The completion of grading is expected next month, after which the site will be reopened to tidal flow via a nearby storm channel.

Historically part of a vast wetlands system that existed in the area, the site until recently has been used as overflow parking for nearby Huntington State Beach.

The project is being undertaken by the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust that bought the site from the state Department of Transportation last year with funds from the state Coastal Conservancy. Gary Gorman, who heads the conservancy, has called the project unique in several respects, chiefly because the state is funding a private restoration project.

The restoration agreement may become a model for similar projects in the state, Gorman has said.