HUNTINGTON BEACH : Two Groups Plan Activities at Wetlands

Two environmental groups plan separate activities today at the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

Amigos de Bolsa Chica will sponsor free public tours of the sensitive wetlands, which are the subject of a heated debate over a proposal to build 4,884 homes in the area.

Wintering birds are now in residence, and visitors can expect to see several kinds of loons, mergansers, white pelicans and varieties of ducks and grebes, according to officials.

The sightseeing trips will begin from the Pacific Coast Highway parking lot, one mile south of Warner Avenue. Tours will begin at 9 a.m. and every 20 minutes thereafter until 10:30 a.m. Information, merchandise and science displays will be available.

For more information, call the Amigos de Bolsa Chica at (714) 897-7003.

Also today, members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust plan to hold a rally to sell honorary deeds to the Bolsa Chica wetlands to raise money to possibly buy the land and preserve it in its natural state.

The nonprofit Land Trust, numbering about 1,600 members, will sell the honorary deeds for $10 per square foot, or $90 per square yard. Buyers will get a certificate for their honorary holdings but no actual ownership.

The rally will be at the Bolsa Chica reserve’s Warner Avenue parking lot near Pacific Coast Highway from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Organizers say the money raised at the sale will go into a trust account and will be used in the group’s effort to obtain the wetlands and preserve it from development. The Koll Real Estate Group, the landowner and developer, plans to build up to 4,884 homes on the wetlands perimeter.

Koll officials have maintained that their development plan is sensitive to the environment and community and offers the best chance for restoration of 1,100 acres of wetlands.

Koll Senior Vice President Lucy Dunn said Friday that 75% the site is going to be open space and parks and that an existing oil field will be transformed into “a pristine wetlands” at no taxpayer expense.

Dunn said it is misleading for the Land Trust to be “selling” property it doesn’t own. She said the group also is raising unrealistic expectations about chances for public acquisition.

Jan D. Vandersloot, vice president of the Land Trust, estimated that the 1,400 acres his group is seeking to buy could cost as much as $100 million.

He acknowledges that money from the honorary deed sales isn’t expected to come close to reaching that total. He said that it could be used in combination with possible state and federal grants and a possible land trade involving a closed military base.

Having a trust fund also might encourage residents to make contributions toward the purchase of the land, he said.

Representatives from the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, local Audubon chapters and Huntington Beach Tomorrow are expected to participate in the rally.