Bolsa Chica group: Wetlands restoration plan is working

A Bolsa Chica environmental group recently reported that the wetlands habitat has thriving animal populations and water recovery, thanks to a decade-long restoration effort.

Amigos de Bolsa Chica, based in Huntington Beach, announced its results during a symposium Saturday.

The roughly 1,300-acre wetlands were restored for the first time in 2006, when ocean water, after 100 years, again flowed directly into the area formerly utilized as a hunting reserve and oil field.

“The tides after the restoration have been relatively similar to the ocean,” said Chris Webb, a coastal scientist from Moffatt and Nichol, a Long Beach-based environmental consultant firm.

A hydraulic system feeds water from Anaheim Bay to Huntington Harbour and finally to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, he said.

Since that effort, fish, birds and other wildlife have been thriving and reproducing in the area again, according to Kelly O’Reilly of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which oversees the wetlands’ day-to-day management.

“It takes a village to restore and maintain these wetlands,” she said, noting the efforts from the State Lands Commission, California State Coastal Conservancy, California Natural Resources Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Birds like the snowy plover — which built 92 nests in 2015 compared to 82 in 2014 — Ridgway’s rails and the reddish egret, which were never seen in the area before the restoration, have been prosperous in recent years, experts said.

At least five species of bats have been spotted and feed off the bugs, especially mosquitoes, O’Reilly said. Nearly 70 fish species were also reported.

There have been some reoccurring challenges along the way, O’Reilly said. Dog owners sometimes bring their pets to the area, even though they are not allowed, and that can prove harmful to animals and plants, O’Reilly said.

Erosion and upkeep are also a concern for some areas, especially near the tidal gates and Huntington Harbour, experts said.

Nick Rousseau, center lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said his organization has seen the successes at the wetlands from an aerial viewpoint.

He said as part of a NASA program called Develop, college students this spring used remote sensing satellites to see and understand how much the restoration changed the wetlands over several weeks.

He said one of their discoveries was more land cover from the water, which proved vital for migratory bird populations that have nowhere else to go in the Los Angeles area to land and lay their eggs.

“Seeing all these birds now, this is just an added verification that what they’re doing is going pretty well,” Rousseau said. “Wetlands restoration is a big thing around the country where people want to help and understand restoration efforts. Maybe by using satellite imagery and understanding how things change over time, we’ll be able to gather an understanding of what’s going to help and provide organizations like the Amigos de Bolsa Chica with a communicative outreach.”

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