The Wetlands Development Deal

The implication that Koll Development is doing the public a service by tripling wetlands in the Bolsa Chica is clearly misleading.

The wetlands actually consist of 1,635 acres of saltwater marsh, the remnants of over 30 square miles of marsh along the California coast. About 200 of these acres have already been restored by the Department of Fish and Game to provide limited habitat and feeding grounds to numerous birds, including the least tern, Belding savannah sparrow, brown pelican and clapper rail. Also found among the pickerelweed, cordgrass and related vegetation are stilts, plovers, herons and egrets.

Ideally, future generations of Californians would be best served by restoring all the remaining wetlands acreage, not merely the 900-plus acres proposed by Koll. Residential density currently proposed (4,884 houses) will overwhelm environmentally sensitive habitat.

Since California has already lost about 90% of its riparian woodland and over 80% of its coastal wetlands to development, why can’t our public servants exercise visionary leadership and consider providing an extensive wildlife experience for Southern Californians by proposing a Regional Wetlands Restoration to incorporate all available acreage.

Laguna Laurel and the Santa Rosa Plateau successfully recruited public and private funding to purchase environmentally sensitive ecosystems. Why can’t we act in an equally responsible way with the Bolsa Chica Wetlands?

RICHARD M. SAX, Huntington Beach