A burn for the tern

Sue Doyle

NEWPORT BEACH -- Smoke streamed through the sky above Tern Island on

Wednesday after officials burned a heap of vegetation that had tangled

the nesting area of an endangered bird.

Representatives from the state Department of Fish and Game burned one

mound of weeds to create a habitat suitable for the nesting of the

California least tern, which requires a sandy surface to lay its eggs.

The nesting season begins in May.

“We need less endangered species by getting them off the endangered list.

This is a way to help them,” said Erick Burres, a Fish and Game official

who oversees the Newport Beach area.

Burres and Don Houlihan, a scientific aid with the department, resembled

cross-country skiers as they clung to rakes for support and cautiously

trudged through mud toward the small, little-known island with their

equipment.

Normally, water that pours in from the San Diego Creek surrounds the

island, which is in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve near the

Jamboree Road bridge. But Burres and Houlihan were able to get there

during Wednesday’s low tide.

Although the blaze was an unusual sight to behold, it didn’t seem to

alarm anybody in the area, which is frequented by mountain bikers and

joggers seeking a slice of serenity in urban Orange County.

Only the birds in the surrounding trees caused a commotion as the men

tiptoed through the brush.

Because the least tern is a federally protected species, residents caught

canoeing around its habitat area or hiking on the island can receive

fines for trespassing or even a jail sentence, Burres said.

Another controlled burn will take place on the island Friday to clear the

remaining weeds.