Peaceful Coexistence? : Man and Nature Compete for Habitats in Bolsa Chica Area

A covey of gleaming white birds rose from the waters of Bolsa Chica one morning last week.

Wheeling against the cloudless blue sky, the birds flew in a tight, orderly formation.

Ned Harris, an aerospace engineer from Redondo Beach, watched with an admiring smile, his camera in hand. “There’s no place for birds and wildlife like the Bolsa Chica anywhere else in Southern California,” he said.

Harris was among those visiting the 300-acre Bolsa Chica State Ecological Preserve last week, after the Koll Co. announced a sweeping plan to place 4,884 houses in the area--but also to greatly expand the size of the protected wetlands, whose future has generated debate for well over a decade.

The plans have produced a mixture of concurrence and concern. And Harris, like other visitors to Bolsa Chica, reflected that ambivalence.

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years,” Harris said. “I’d hate to see them do anything to destroy it. Yes, I think that there can be some development over there on the bluffs without destroying Bolsa Chica. But it would have to be done right; it would have to be done right from the very beginning.”

Harris looked at the waters where a brown pelican had just landed. Bolsa Chica is something precious for all Californians, he said--something that must be handled with great care.

“I hope they (the proposed developer) will have a sense of ecology,” Harris said. “There has to be a balance.”

According to the Koll Co., which plans the housing development on land rimming the Bolsa Chica, there will be ecological balance.

“Not only are we going to preserve the existing Bolsa Chica, we’re also going to be enlarging it by donating about 800 acres to the preserve,” said Lucy Dunn, a Koll Co. senior vice president.

Dunn and other Koll Co. officials have unveiled a detailed plan for their proposed development of privately owned land around Bolsa Chica. That plan calls for construction of 4,884 residences. In return for government support of the project, the company said it would more than triple the size of the existing Bolsa Chica by donating wetlands acreage.

The matter is of particular interest because environmental officials say that wetlands, which provide vital nesting and feeding areas for waterfowl, are the most depleted wildlife habitat in the nation. Orange County is no exception; 90% of its original saltwater marshes have been developed, pushing several species close to extinction.

Visitors to the Bolsa Chica last week said they could see the advantage of a larger wetlands. But they invariably added the hope that construction will not intrude on the peace of the existing Bolsa Chica.

Carolyn Kreber was standing on a viewing platform at the ecological preserve, holding a bird-watchers’ guidebook. In the few months since she moved here from San Diego, “looking for a quiet place with wildlife,” Bolsa Chica has become extremely important to her. “This place has opened up a whole new living style for me. It’s restful; it’s quiet. I hope they don’t destroy it.”

Nearby, a father and his two young children also marveled at the peace and wildlife of the wetlands preserve.

“We’re here on business for four months from Switzerland,” said Stefan Brengard. “We like to come to this place to get away from all the traffic and to walk and to watch the birds.”

The 300-acre state ecological preserve off Pacific Coast Highway near Warner Avenue worked its peaceful magic on scores of visitors, as it has for years. People walked over a wooden ramp across the marshy water and gazed at the wildlife and natural scenery.

Admission to the existing state preserve is free. Walking trails branch out from the small paved parking lot. A wire fence separates Bolsa Chica from the vast expanse of empty, privately owned land surrounding the preserve.

If the Koll Co. gets governmental approval, the fences will come down. More ocean water would come into the wetlands through a non-navigable channel cut to the ocean under Pacific Coast Highway. A sweeping new lagoon would form on land that is now mostly dry.

According to the plan, houses would be built on land bordering Warner Avenue and Los Patos Drive.

The proposal to build on bluff land along Warner Avenue has drawn little criticism. But some environmentalists and a coalition of homeowners groups have said they oppose construction on any low-lying lands east of the existing state preserve.

Koll officials, however, have said that for the plan to be economically feasible, all 4,884 houses must be built.

“This plan is a trade-off,” said Dick Ortwein, Southern California division president of Koll. “To make donation of the land for more wetlands possible, there must be an economically feasible development plan.”

Bolsa Chica, the most prized of Orange County’s remaining marshes, is home to hundreds of native birds as well as wintering waterfowl from the arctic.

One of its rarest species is the California least tern, a gull-like bird which nests almost exclusively in Orange County. The bird, listed as a federal endangered species for more than 20 years, arrives in Huntington Beach every spring to feed on fish at the wetlands and to nest at nearby beaches.

Some environmentalists say they fear too much is being sacrificed under the Koll Co. plan. Of particular concern is the lowlands, which they say should be restored as prime waterfowl habitat instead of being developed as Koll Co. proposes.

“Because so much wetlands has been lost in California, especially Southern California, you have to hang on to every square foot you can,” said Gary Gorman of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, which restored the Talbert Marsh near Brookhurst Avenue in 1989.

“There has to be some compromise, but from our perspective none of the lowlands should be developed,” he said. “There is enough bluff-top and upland areas that are developable without impacting wetlands.”

Before development can begin, the Koll Co. must obtain approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Because of vast losses, the nation’s wetlands are protected by a federal law that requires “no net loss.” In practice, that means for every acre filled, another acre must be created or restored.

Biologists say that despite the law, the success rate of restoring and creating wetlands is low, and many projects in California have failed. Even when designed and built properly, a newly created marsh takes years to become functional.

“When you create wetlands, a lot of times it is a gamble, a crap shoot. You’re giving up a known habitat for unknown,” said Gorman. Koll Co. officials last week pledged that the expanded Bolsa Chica would be successful. “This wetlands restoration will be something the whole nation can be proud of,” Dunn said.

But Adrianne Morrison of Amigos de Bolsa Chica said the environmental group will be taking a “show me” attitude. The group does not oppose the plan, but it will monitor each rung on the governmental-process ladder that leads to proposed construction in 1994.