Unexpected Higher Costs Could Stall Restoration of Wetlands

Restoring the Bolsa Chica wetlands could cost $30 million more than expected, state officials said this week.

The higher price tag could slow or halt the coastal marsh restoration, one of the most ambitious efforts in state history. The cost of restoring the wetlands, which are on county unincorporated land near Huntington Beach, could exceed $100 million, said Jim Trout, project coordinator.

Trout and others working on the project said, however, that they believe they can find the extra money.

The California Lands Commission has submitted a request for an additional $30 million in the 2001-02 state budget for the project. Trout said the restoration cost estimate is tentative, “based on back-of-the-envelope calculations.”

The restoration would return ocean tides to the 1,200 acres of salt marshes, pools and oil fields known as Bolsa Chica.

Officials say that several factors are driving up costs, including the need for more extensive engineering studies.

The state and federal agencies overseeing the project had hoped to finance it primarily with funds paid by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in exchange for permission to expand harbor operations.

When the deal for Bolsa Chica was struck three years ago, $78.9 million in port money was earmarked for the project, $25 million of which was spent to buy the land. The balance, including interest, stood at $60 million on June 30 of this year.

Some officials fear that the restoration project could be derailed by soaring costs, forcing the agencies to find other wetlands to fulfill the requirements of the deal with the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

In a system used up and down the California coast, developers--including ports--whose projects damage marine habitat must fund restoration of similar habitat somewhere else.

The Port of Los Angeles already has used roughly half the credits it earned with construction of a new cargo terminal. The Port of Long Beach plans to use its credits over the next decade.

Since port expansion damages deep-water habitat, the mitigation money must be used to create similar deep-water habitat elsewhere. The project at Bolsa Chica qualifies, but only if an ocean inlet is built. The plans for an inlet have been opposed by surfers and swimmers who believe it would cause sand erosion at Bolsa Chica State Beach and worsen water quality.

If the mitigation money is not spent at Bolsa Chica, it still must go to a qualifying project, said Tom Yocom, national wetlands expert at the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It could be spent, for example, restoring the Los Cerritos wetlands in Long Beach.

But most Bolsa Chica restoration planners remain confident the work will be finished.

“The amount of years and work that everyone’s put into this--I just can’t believe that we’re going to get to the end of this process and say, ‘We don’t have enough money,’ ” said Robert Hoffmann of the National Marine Fisheries Service. “I just don’t think the public will allow it to die.”

Wetlands at Bolsa Chica were cut off from the ocean more than a century ago by duck hunters seeking better hunting conditions. Oil production began there in the 1940s. Later, home builders were interested in the coastal property.

The wetlands eventually attracted the attention of environmentalists. Biologists point out that Southern California has already has lost 90% of its coastal wetlands to homes and marinas. Without those wetlands, migratory birds lack key feeding grounds, and ocean fish--such as halibut--lose nurseries for their young.

The lobbying to save Bolsa culminated in February 1997 when state and federal officials negotiated a deal to buy 880 acres of the wetlands from developers.