Castaways Park nets $100,000 grant

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- Castaways Park’s wildlife habitat will get a boost,

thanks to a $100,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy.

The city will use the funds to replace ornamental plants with native

vegetation, re-creating the site’s historical character, officials said.

The conservancy’s board approved the grant Thursday.

The project at Castaways, a 17-acre park north of Coast Highway on the

east side of Dover Drive, will also include an interpretive center that

will educate students and visitors about the flora and fauna, said Dave

Niederhaus, the city’s general services manager.

The city applied for the grant about a year and a half ago, he said.

Niederhaus said the Environmental Nature Center played a significant role

in the application process and will continue to be an integral part of

the project.

“The city will manage the project,” he said. “We hope to get started

in the fall by planting about 20,000 native plants. We’ll spend about

five years to develop them.”

The entire project is expected to cost about $230,000, of which the

city will allocate $75,000 in the upcoming budget, Niederhaus said. Apart

from that and the $100,000 coming from the coastal conservancy, the

remaining funds will be provided by the Nature Conservancy.

As part of the project, the city will also replace the existing

informal trails network with designated trails designed to protect

habitats while retaining the park’s natural atmosphere and views of the

bay.

In 1998, the city, acting on the requests of many residents,

designated the park as a “natural park.”

The grant is a result of enterprise and interest on the part of the

city’s residents, said Melanie Denninger, south coast manager for the

coastal conservancy.

The grant was approved by the board Thursday after the city worked

with a consultant recommended by the coastal conservancy, she said.

“We felt the effectiveness of the planting program could be improved,”

Denninger said.

The money will be paid to the city progressively as work gets done,

she said.