Bolsa restoration may get $10 million

Jenny Marder

Before the heavy work has even begun on the Bolsa Chica restoration,

the price tag has already jumped from $100 million to $109 million.

But it may get the needed $10-million infusion today from the

California Coastal Conservancy.

The state agency committed to protecting wetlands in Southern

California will vote today on a proposal to earmark an additional $10

million for a plan to restore the Bolsa Chica lowlands into lush

habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife.

This will bring funding for the $109-million project to the final

amount needed, said Dave Carlberg, leader of the Amigos de Bolsa

Chica’s science committee, one of the groups overseeing the

restoration.

Unexpected costs of testing for cleanup of the property were more

expensive than anticipated, Carlberg said. They also learned they

would be required to pay part of the cost of abandoning 56 oil wells

on the site, he said.

The restoration, which calls for 370 acres of full tidal and 180

acres of muted tidal habitat, will be one of the largest and most

expensive restoration projects ever undertaken in California.

The project has been in the works for more than five years and is

the culmination of more than three decades of fighting by many local

environmentalists. The goal is to revive the degraded wetlands that

are home to many endangered species and a stop for weary shorebirds,

seabirds and waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway.

Roughly 20 acres of new nesting areas will benefit native birds

such as snowy plovers and least terns. The wetlands will also provide

nursery habitat for the California halibut and other fish.

“It’s a very productive area now and it will five times over

improve because we’ll be attracting different species of birds that

maybe haven’t used that area before,” said Shirley Dettloff, one of

the founding members of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and a former mayor

and coastal commissioner. “Those that use it will increase in

population. The wetlands have also always been natural nurseries for

fish species. Those who want to come spawn in Bolsa Chica now will be

able to.”

Funding comes from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to

offset the environmental impacts of development along the San Pedro

harbor.

Work began in September 2003, when oil companies began to strip

the south end of the Bolsa Chica of 39 active and 17 idle oil wells

and rigs. The actual restoration is set to begin in the fall.

“A big part of restoration is that we’re going to build a new

tidal inlet that will go straight into the ocean from the wetlands,”

conservancy spokesman Dick Wayman said.

The inlet would cut through the south end of Bolsa Chica State

Beach and cross Pacific Coast Highway, allowing water to flow into

the wetlands and rejuvenate the long-neglected salt marshes cut off

from the ocean by duck hunters more than 100 years ago. A Pacific

Coast Highway bridge will be built over the inlet channel.

Construction is expected to take three years to complete.

An informational meeting on restoration plans will be held May 20

at City Hall. The six state and federal agencies involved will be

there with more definitive start times.

“I had hoped that I would be alive when I saw it actually restored

and it looks like I will be,” Dettloff said. “This is the end of a

long road that many of us in the community have been on for a long,

long time. To see a plan of restoration completed and approved and to

now see restoration begin is wonderful.”