A Habitat Haven : Upper Newport Bay Joins State Program That Will Raise Protection Money

Standing on a low mound not far from the water’s edge, Frank Robinson looked Wednesday across the marshy expanse of Upper Newport Bay and smiled.

“It’s a fabulous program,” Robinson, a longtime crusader for preservation of the bay, finally said. “It’s going to make it that much harder for this delicate setting ever to be destroyed.”

Protecting the 752 acres of wildlife habitat in Upper Newport Bay has long been a mission for Robinson and other county environmentalists. That’s why they view the area’s inclusion in the newly created California Wildlands Program as a big step forward.

To officially mark the beginning of the program in Southern California, state and local officials, biologists and nature enthusiasts gathered Wednesday along Back Bay Drive in Newport Beach for a brief ceremony. Upper Newport Bay is one of nine areas in California, totaling 44,068 acres, included in the wild lands program, which state Department of Fish and Game officials say is the first of its kind in the country.

Historically, the department’s budget for acquiring, maintaining and protecting wild lands has been paid for almost entirely by the sales of hunting and fishing licenses. The wild lands program is a bid to generate millions of dollars in new revenue by charging, among others, bird-watchers, hikers and wildlife photographers who are on nature tours $2 a day or $10 a year to use the newly designated wild lands areas.

The program is projected to raise about $5 million for the department during its first 2 years. That money will be used to staff each area with full-time biologists as well as to maintain and protect the habitats. Access to each wild lands area will be largely limited to hiking to reduce the impact on plant and wildlife species.

“Our No. 1 priority is preservation of these areas, but to do that we’ll need to get non-hunters and (non-) fishermen to help bear that cost,” state Fish and Game spokesman Ted Thomas said. “About 85% of Californians don’t fish or hunt, but surveys and voting patterns indicate there is growing interest among state residents to preserve open space and wild lands. We want to tap that interest.”

Besides Upper Newport Bay, there will be two other areas in Southern California in the wild lands program: The 5,000-acre Imperial Wildlife Area near the Salton Sea and the 4,700-acre San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Riverside County.

The program at Upper Newport Bay will run differently from those in the other eight areas in the state. Because Back Bay Drive already affords public access to the refuge, only those who sign up for the agency’s guided nature walks and demonstrations will be assessed a fee.

Revenue from the statewide program will benefit efforts to expand and enhance the Upper Newport Bay habitat. The most promising development is the possible addition of 117 acres to the refuge, including 60 acres on the west side of the bay, near Irvine Boulevard and University Drive, where a permanent nature center would be built, in part with money from the wild lands program.

The 117 acres are owned by the Irvine Co., but in an agreement being drawn up the company will give the property to the county in exchange for development considerations elsewhere.

During the dedication ceremony Wednesday, County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley expressed hope that a final agreement on the land deal can be reached this summer so the county and the Department of Fish and Game can begin to plan the nature center.

The size of the facility and how to pay for it have not been worked out, but Robinson said it will be large enough for local nature and environmental groups to hold meetings.

“Many of us have long wanted such a facility to help validate the efforts of those who have worked so hard to bring attention to this bay,” said Robinson, past president of Friends of Upper Newport Bay.

He has spent nearly 25 years on various projects to protect the bay and believes that the area’s inclusion in the wild lands program is an added safeguard against urban encroachment into the habitat.

“For a long time, many of us were worried if we turned our back for a minute, this would be gone,” Robinson said. “But the Department of Fish and Game has in a way institutionalized our cause, which adds another layer of protection.”

Preservation of Upper Newport Bay was virtually assured in 1975, when state officials bought the 752-acre reserve from the Irvine Co. for $3.4 million. From August to April, it offers refuge to more than 200 species of birds.