Mothering Nature : 3 Lakes in Laguna Canyon Would Be Cleaned, Weeded Under Plan

A new plan to rescue the only natural lakes in Orange County--three ecologically battered basins destined to be the crown jewels of what may become the county’s largest wilderness park--calls for cleaning up dirty water and restoring natural vegetation.

The plan by a San Rafael consulting firm will be unveiled tonight before the Coastal Greenbelt Authority, a panel formed to manage the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park at the edge of Laguna Beach.

“We’re sort of at a critical stage with these lakes, so the sooner the better,” biologist Elisabeth Brown, an authority member, said Tuesday. “When it comes back, it’s going to be a wonderful spot for wildlife viewing.”

Laguna Beach Mayor Ann Christoph said the small lakes, which encompass about 21 acres, are an important asset.

“When you think about these (being) natural lakes, I think these mean a lot to people,” she said. “I guess people in Minnesota would probably scoff at those lakes, but in this context, I think they’re pretty unique and special.”

Lake restoration is part of a broader $2.5-million project to allow greater public access to the wilderness park, which is now open only one weekend a month for guided tours.

Reviving the fresh-water ponds, which are rare in Southern California, has been broken into two phases under the plan by Wetlands Research Assn. Inc. of San Rafael. The plan was funded by a $82,500 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy.

The first includes cleaning the bacteria-laden waters and removing burdensome vegetation while re-establishing native plants that attract migrating waterfowl.

A second phase, which depends partly on realigning Laguna Canyon Road--a touchy subject but one that environmentalists increasingly favor as a way to revive the lakes--includes uprooting the existing roadway, reconnecting two of the three lakes and constructing a foot bridge for park visitors.

The two phases are expected to cost more than $900,000. Besides lake restoration, other objectives for the area call for installing trails, restrooms and parking spaces. They carry an estimated price tag of $1.5 million.

A workshop on the park’s General Development Plan will follow Brown’s presentation of the lake restoration project tonight.

The Laguna Coast Wilderness Park is about 2,500 acres, but is expected to eventually be enlarged to 10,000 acres as neighboring parcels of open space are turned over to the county.

The lakes, which for a century were a part of the Irvine Ranch, are owned by the City of Laguna Beach, which is in the process of buying 2,150 acres from the Irvine Co. that had been scheduled for development.

For decades, the lakes have taken a battering, Brown said.

Sitting at a low point in Laguna Canyon, the basins catch the runoff from the canyon’s 600-acre watershed. In addition, the surrounding land has been eroded by decades of cattle grazing in the area, causing the lakes to fill with mud and sediment.

An early phase of the lake cleanup will involve removing the sediment, along with dead eucalyptus trees and other plants that now spring from the ponds. Those plants would eventually be replaced with natural vegetation such as sycamores, willows and perhaps cottonwoods, Brown said.

If the panel endorses the plan tonight, the county would solicit state funding and work could begin in the fall.

Much of the park’s future design will depend upon how and whether Laguna Canyon Road is realigned, a possibility that was the focus of a series of workshops in Laguna Beach last year.

Regardless of what happens with the curvy roadway, however, Brown said there is much that can be done to restore the neglected lakes.

Once a single basin, two of the lakes now function individually because a pipeline that links them beneath Laguna Canyon Road has long been clogged with debris. One of the initial moves in revitalizing the lakes will be to clean the sludge from that culvert so the two lakes can mingle once again.

The plan also calls for nearby hillsides to be stabilized, partly by replanting coastal sage scrub, to help keep dirt from sloughing into the lakes.

The largest lake, which has caught much of the fertilizer runoff from nearby Leisure World, must be cleaned to allow more diverse life to thrive in its water, which is a thick yellowish-green.

The runoff feeds the algae that covers the surface of the lake and inhales the oxygen needed for underwater plants. As a result, a number of fish kills have been reported at the lakes in the past decade.

Robert G. Fisher, director of the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks division, said the Oct. 27 firestorm in Laguna Beach added a new wrinkle for those trying to plan for public access to the park.

“The fire is a new factor to be considered because it did leave so much bare land exposed and vulnerable,” he said.

However, he said the General Development Plan likely will be completed by July, signaling how soon and under what conditions residents may gain additional access to the park.

Facilities such as the restrooms and parking spaces may not be built for five years, he said. Except for such support structures at the edge of the parkland, the wilderness park is likely to largely remain in its natural state, Fisher said.

“My prediction is the plan will provide for resource protection but virtually nothing else in the heart of the park,” he said.

The Coastal Greenbelt Authority will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the large conference room at Fred Lang Park Community Center at 21540 Wesley Drive in Laguna Beach. For more information, call (714) 834-6791.

Restoring Laguna Lakes A $900,000-plus plan unveiled Tuesday outlined ways to restore Orange County’s threenatural lakes, including freshening the waters and re-establishing native plants.