Filling Wetlands Is Again an Issue

* Re “Small Huntington Beach Wetland Deserves California’s Protection,” Orange County Voices, June 18:

I agree completely with Garry Brown that the “Little Shell” wetland in Huntington Beach should be protected. The Coastal Act, after all, prohibits the filling of coastal wetlands for housing. Mr. Brown points to the Bolsa Chica wetlands as an example of wetland preservation. It is true that most of the Bolsa Chica wetlands have been saved, but in 1996 a prior Coastal Commission approved a plan to allow the construction of 900 houses on these wetlands. This was prevented only after the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Sierra Club and other groups won a lawsuit which reaffirmed for the commission that filling wetlands for housing is not allowed by the Coastal Act.

In 1996, like in the present case, the commission ignored staff recommendations when approving the housing. So as in 1996, environmental groups are again suing the Coastal Commission over its approval to fill wetlands for housing. I predict that again the courts will tell the commission that filling wetlands for housing violates the Coastal Act.

Though the Bolsa Chica wetlands have been saved, the 218-acre Bolsa Chica Mesa, an integral part of the Bolsa Chica wetland ecosystem, is still threatened by a plan to cover it with more than 1,000 housing units. This plan is scheduled to come before the Coastal Commission at its August meeting in Huntington Beach at the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort hotel.

I urge all who care about our coastal resources and open space to attend the meeting and let the commission know we expect it to protect sensitive habitat and wetlands along our coast.

CONNIE BOARDMAN

Huntington Beach

* Brown’s column laments the vote to eliminate seven-tenths of an acre of wetlands along Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach.

The battle over this wetland has been absurd; this small area of cattails is bordered on one side by a major street and on the other side a new mixed-use development. It lacks connection to other wetlands areas (other than “by pipe” to quote Brown) and always would be substandard if it remained.

Wetlands preservation is an allocation of resources question. CoastKeepers overlooks the weighing of alternatives and sticks to a knee-jerk reaction that every inch must be saved. The efforts by the developer and CoastKeepers put into the fight over this small area could save tens of acres in other locations that have more ecological value.

Every square foot is not precious; the net product of preservation efforts is the measure of success. For example, the development of one acre of marginal Orange County wetlands here will fund the restoration of four acres elsewhere in Orange County or could even fund the purchase and eternal preservation of hundreds of acres of virgin Central California oceanfront property.

Which better serves nature, a flawed seven-tenths of an acre on Beach Boulevard, or many times more area in another location?

CHRIS WELSH

Newport Beach