A Welcome to the Wild Side at Sanctuary

Where ducks once served for target practice, the feathered creatures now make homes free from hunters.

A $12-million wetland restoration project funded by the Irvine Co. and the Irvine Ranch Water District turned ponds formerly used by private duck clubs and land slated to become apartment complexes into a wildlife preserve three years ago.

And on Sunday, the 300-acre San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary reintroduced itself to the public with Welcome to the Wild, a community event to show off a place where the sound of passing cars is blocked out by the chirping of birds and a steady breeze.

“People always say this is the best-kept secret in Irvine,” said Francine Pares of the Irvine Ranch Water District. “But we don’t want it to be a secret. This is for the community.”

Nestled in an unlikely spot between office parks and UC Irvine, the sanctuary is an oasis where some 200 bird species, including cormorants, red-tailed hawks and Canada geese feed and nest throughout the year.

Six restored ponds, with grassy islands where birds flying south for winter stop to nest, offer protection from predators that can’t swim.

The restoration project “has changed the character of the marsh,” said Christopher Obaditch of the Audubon Society’s Sea and Sage Chapter, which is headquartered at the sanctuary. “It’s more friendly to the birds now. It gives them a safer breeding ground.”

The network of six ponds also helps prevent algae overgrowth in Newport Bay.

Water polluted with nitrates is pulled into the ponds from the adjacent San Diego Creek, and microorganisms consume the nitrogen compound, releasing gas into the atmosphere. The water is released back into the creek and feeds into the bay, where algae growth is kept at a minimum, since much of the nitrogen which it feeds is gone.

Dirt trails winding around the ponds are open to the public from dawn to dusk every day of the year for exercise or escape from the bustle of a populated suburb.

“It’s a place to come in and meditate or walk and just enjoy the area,” said Peer Swan, president of the sanctuary’s board of directors.