Watching Over Wetlands’ Health : Environment: ‘Volunteer scientists’ accompany real ones in monitoring delicate balance of Bolsa Chica life.

The curious scene repeats every Thursday morning.

A cluster of men and women meanders through the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. They stop at various points, pull a bucket of water from the marshy pools and put some of the water into small plastic bottles for analysis later. They then produce strange-looking measuring devices for on-site testing of the other water samples.

“We call this our Volunteer Scientists Program,” explained Phil Smith, administrative coordinator of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. “We have volunteers out here every Thursday morning taking water samples and recording observations.”

Guardian of the wetlands’ delicate ecological balance, the conservancy dedicates itself to preserving the amazing array of plant and animal life within the Bolsa Chica, one of the biggest wetlands in the West. By gathering the samples, testing the water and recording the information, the group is keeping a running tab on the marshland’s health.

If the acid-alkaline balance of the water changes, even gradually, the conservancy will know it, thanks to the record-keeping. If the grasses start browning or non-native plant species start choking out native plants, the members will know when and where. If trees start dying from too much salt water, the organization will be able to pinpoint dates and conditions.

“We started collecting this information in 1990,” Smith said. “We’re forming a base line.”

The data recorded by the volunteers includes salt content, acid-alkaline balance and amount of sediment in the water samples.

“This information will be useful in applying for governmental grants in the future,” Smith said. “It also will be very important to us when we obtain more of the degraded wetland acres that are now privately owned and start restoring them. To restore a wetlands properly, we need to know what makes the best water conditions for the existing wetlands. These readings we take give us the base-line data for a healthy wetlands.”

He said the data would also be invaluable in case of man-made disasters, such as chemical spills.

The program to collect the scientific information about the wetlands has about 10 volunteers. “The volunteers don’t have to be scientists,” Smith said. “We give on-the-job training to the people who help us.”

On a recent Thursday morning three volunteers, all from Huntington Beach, accompanied Smith on a round of data collection at the wetlands.

Jim Robins, 49, an aircraft industry logistics engineer, said he enjoyed being coordinator of the volunteers. “In 1990, when the oil spill happened in Huntington Beach, I wanted to do something to help,” Robins said. “I heard the conservancy needed volunteers for its work, so I joined up.”

Cheryl Solomon, 24, a graduate student in environmental studies at Cal State Fullerton, said she began her volunteer work for the conservancy about three months ago. “This is good experience for me,” she said. “I’m still trying to figure out where I want to go in the environmental field, and this work gives me the opportunity to learn more. And I enjoy this. It’s nice to be outside, to get exercise out here, near the beach.”

The third volunteer, Andrea Gardner, 26, a mathematics graduate of Stanford University, said she had recently been laid off her aircraft industry job with McDonnell Douglas.

“I love the Bolsa Chica,” Gardner said. “I’m originally from a fairly small town in Colorado, and I’m used to wide-open spaces. I think open spaces are very valuable. I don’t think people here realize the value of having open space like the Bolsa Chica.”

The volunteers assembled in the Pacific Coast Highway parking lot of the ecological reserve, opposite the entrance to Bolsa Chica State Beach. After gathering up their note pads and scientific measuring devices, they began walking into the interior of the 300-acre wetlands preserve.

A symphony of sights and sounds greeted the volunteers. An ocean breeze rippled grasses along the edge of the wetlands. Comical-looking wild ducks splashed and dived in the vast bays. Coveys of other wild birds, suddenly alarmed, filled the air with the flap-flapping of a formation takeoff.

The volunteers made their first stop on a bridge over one of the bays. They dropped a bucket, attached to a line, and hauled up a water sample. Using one of the testing devices, Gardner and Solomon determined the bay waters that day had 25 parts salt per 1,000 parts water.

“Twenty-five parts per thousand salinity is light for this bay,” Smith said. “It’s because of the recent rain. Typically, water in the Bolsa Chica is almost as salty as the ocean, which is about 35 parts per thousand. It’s good for us to catch a reading after the rain like this to make comparison studies.”

He said that salinity in the Bolsa Chica would return to normal levels through the continuous influx of ocean waters.

But Smith noted that the ocean waters must flow a long and tortuous path to get inside the wetlands.

“The ocean entrance is miles away at Anaheim Bay (in Seal Beach), and from there the water flows into Huntington Harbour, then under the Warner Avenue bridge into the Bolsa Chica,” Smith said. The wetlands area needs a closer channel to the ocean, he added.

The 1989 Bolsa Chica coalition plan calls for cutting a new channel to provide fresh ocean water to the wetlands. “We’ve got to have a new channel,” Smith said. “It’s a necessity.”

During their circle of the wetlands on this morning, the volunteers recorded visual observations as well as scientific measurements. They noted that some native plants were flourishing. They similarly recorded seeing several Belding’s savannah sparrows, an endangered species.

The final stop for the volunteers was at the conservancy office in downtown Huntington Beach. There, Gardner, Solomon and Robins tested water samples taken from the wetlands for amount of particulates.

Smith said none of the readings this day indicated anything dangerous or seriously unusual. But he noted the readings would be recorded into a computer, where they can be instantly recalled for comparison purposes and future studies.

“In 1990, when we had the oil spill, we realized we needed more base-line information about the waters of the Bolsa Chica,” Smith said. “This program is providing us that information.”