New visitors center fulfills dream for Wetlands Conservancy

The Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy’s long-awaited Visitors Interpretive Center is open to the public.

The environmental nonprofit, which owns 140 acres of marshland between Beach Boulevard and the Santa Ana River along Pacific Coast Highway, opened the doors to the center five weeks ago. The facility aims to educate people about the four coastal wetlands under the conservancy’s management and their importance to local wildlife, said Lena Hayashi, a conservancy board member.

One of the center’s displays is a large detailed diorama of the wetlands that describes how animals and flora that live above and below the mudflats rely on one another. The display is decorated with taxidermic birds that the conservancy had tried to save, Hayashi said.

In the middle of the room are educational displays about topics such as the effects of littering on wildlife, why the wetlands are important and the conservancy’s efforts to save them.

The center also features a webcam installed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that live-streams and records images from the bottom of the Talbert Marsh.

“We want people to be more environmentally aware, be aware of their impacts and what they can do to help,” said Candace Brenner, a volunteer at the center. “We need them to understand what an important resource wetlands are. We want them to go away educated and motivated to be involved.”

The center offers free tours every Wednesday and the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

In 2008, the conservancy finished construction on the building that now houses the interpretive center and the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center. However, the space for the interpretive center was used mainly for board meetings until the nonprofit received $650,000 in grants from the California Coastal Conservancy and other agencies, enabling the group to complete the project.

“We spent so many years dreaming of having an interpretive center,” Hayashi said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Brenner, a conservancy board member in the 1980s and a retired biology instructor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, said she has been waiting for the center to open and will put her background to good use as a volunteer.

“I’m excited to be teaching, especially kids, again,” she said. “I want to get them interested in science.”

The conservancy is seeking volunteers to help staff the interpretive center and perform other activities, such as marsh tours, wildlife monitoring and wetlands maintenance and cleanup. For more information, visit hbwetlands.org.

If you go

What: Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy’s Visitors Interpretive Center

Where: 21900 Pacific Coast Hwy. (at Newland Street), Huntington Beach

When: Tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday and the second and fourth Saturdays of each month

Information: (714) 536-0141, mail@hbwetlands.org

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For the record: This article originally reported incorrectly that the center’s tours are by appointment.