Dredging OKd for Newport’s Upper Bay

Orange County supervisors approved a $38-million dredging project Tuesday that is designed to prevent mud-choked Upper Newport Bay from turning into a meadow.

The mud flats, fed by sediment that washes into the ecological reserve, have built up over the years, greatly reducing the water level.

The water has become so shallow in places that weekend kayakers and canoeists are limited to paddling a ribbon of water in the middle of the bay.

The especially wet winter and spring added to the cascade of silt from San Diego Creek and smaller tributaries that flow into the upper bay, in Newport Beach.

“This project has to be done to prevent this bay from becoming a meadow,” Larry McKenney, a county watershed and coastal resources manager, told supervisors.

The mud flats are so expansive that coyotes and other predators cross the wetlands and prey on birds, including several endangered species, county officials said.

The 752-acre reserve is one of the largest in the Southland and is regarded as among the finest bird-watching sites in North America. During winter migration, as many as 35,000 birds may be in the bay at one time.

The bay is also home to six rare or endangered species: the light-footed clapper rail, brown pelican, Belding’s savannah sparrow, the black rail, the peregrine falcon and the California least tern.

Funding for the project, which is expected to begin in early fall and continue for several months, will be shared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal Conservancy and the state Department of Fish and Game.

The project will deepen and expand the sediment basins near Jamboree Road.

An estimated 2.1 million cubic yards of sediment will be dredged. In addition, work calls for relocating a tern island from the upper to the lower basin.

The project will restore the wetlands along Northstar Beach, Shellmaker Island and a part of the upper basin known as Bullnose.