Laguna council backs plan to restore Aliso Creek estuary
The Laguna Beach City Council last week endorsed a plan to improve the Aliso Creek estuary.
Ed Almanza, vice chairman of the Laguna Ocean Foundation, briefed council members on how the nonprofit organization will enlist experts to create a healthy lagoon and outlet to the ocean at Aliso Beach Park.
The creek collects runoff from inland cities and as a result occasionally suffers from poor water quality, especially after rainstorms.
The foundation, which conceived of the project three years ago, hopes to enhance water quality and restore a 6-acre area to a vibrant habitat for plants and animals such as the tidewater goby fish and Western pond turtle.
“The existing lagoon is a bit of a mess,” Almanza told the council. “It’s invasive weeds, urban runoff; it’s kind of an embarrassment. Our task is to see if there is a way to restore [the area] to some semblance of its former self.”
The 35-square-mile Aliso Creek watershed begins in the Santa Ana Mountains. It once featured an “expansive estuary with extensive wetlands,” according to a city staff report.
The estuary has degraded over time because of countywide development and needs attention, the report says.
“[Aliso Creek] is the only location between San Mateo Creek [in San Diego County] and Newport Back Bay where the possibility exists to link protected freshwater and coastal ecosystems,” the staff report says.
Several agencies and environmental organizations support the project, including the Laguna Canyon Foundation, Laguna Bluebelt, Surfrider Foundation, Orange County Coastkeeper and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“We applaud the multiple community benefits associated with wetland recovery projects that include improved beach ocean water quality, less beach sand erosion [and] protection of near-shore tidepool and kelp habitats,” Laguna Bluebelt co-founder Mike Beanan wrote in a letter.
Developing a plan is expected to cost $350,000, with $300,000 coming via a Coastal Conservancy grant. The remaining $50,000 will be covered by the foundation ($10,000), a private donor ($20,000) and in-kind services ($20,000).
The estuary is not the only portion of the Aliso Creek watershed gaining attention. The county and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are collaborating on a plan to restore part of the creek upstream from the estuary. Over time the waterway has cut deeper into the earth, and engineers want to stabilize that section.
Almanza said the foundation will be closely monitoring the project upstream while developing its own plan, which he expects to be done by December 2016.
Foundation officials will share the plan with the public during interactive presentations and post updates on its website in the coming months.
Laguna’s water quality director, David Shissler, will be the city’s liaison as the project moves along.