Looking for links in county parks

Bryce Alderton

NEWPORT-MESA -- The primeval sound of coyotes at night and chirping

birds muffled in the trees during the day is the world John Scott hopes

to save.

“There’s different sounds two times of day,” said Scott, a member of

Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, a nonprofit organization formed in

1997 to promote parks and wildlife preserves in Orange County. “It’s so

different from the city.”

The place Scott refers to is the proposed 971-acre Orange Coast River

Park, which if created would link Fairview Regional Park in Costa Mesa,

Talbert Nature Preserve in unincorporated Orange County, public and

private wetlands in Huntington Beach and private land at Banning Ranch in

Newport Beach.

The nonprofit group wants to restore existing parkland and acquire

privately owned lands with state and federal funds in hopes of connecting

the 10 existing, privately owned properties with trails.

The idea began five years ago, Scott said.

“We were looking for areas that could be preserved and one area jumped

out at us,” he said.

The proposed Orange Coast River Park would be a 1,000-acre park and

nature preserve beginning at the mouth of the Santa Ana River and winding

its way back to the far outskirts of Fairview Park.

Proponents hope to create a park comparable in size to the Golden Gate

Park in San Francisco.

“[The park] is an ecological staircase, with three-mile stretches from

ocean to the beach to bluffs,” said Jean Watt, a former Newport Beach

mayor and president of the Friends’ group.

Each city would retain its own land, but the park would be cared for

by a group called the Open Space Authority, which would have members from

all three cities.

“We want to do it jointly to have common trails, a common ranger

station,” Watt said.

Although city leaders have not agreed to the project yet, they have

supported the idea.

Each of the three cities has given $5,000 to the group to design maps

depicting the park and creating a proposal.

Huntington Beach city officials, who met with the group on March 18,

were the first approached.

The idea was well received and city officials praised the idea of

preserving sensitive wildlife habitat areas.

“It’s fabulous to be able to add to the city’s recreational

opportunities,” said Mayor Debbie Cook. “There’s certainly a need for it

and it will be accessible to the people in the southeast part of town.”

It still needs to be decided what the city’s role in overseeing the

park would be before the City Council would vote on the proposal, said

Huntington Beach City Administrator Ray Silver.

Members of the Friends’ of Harbors, Beaches and Parks organization

plan to meet with city leaders from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

Development of the park would take between five and 10 years and cost

$20 million. Funding for improvements, restoration and possible land

acquisition would come from federal and state grants.

Costa Mesa recently received a $194,000 grant from the California

State Coastal Conservancy for habitat restoration at Fairview Park in

Costa Mesa, Watt said.

* BRYCE ALDERTON is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at bryce.alderton@latimes.com