Back Bay deserves protection

My relationship with the Back Bay goes back to 1962 when my family

first moved here, building a house just one street away from the

bay’s tidelands. Since then, I have spent untold hours kayaking in

her brackish waters, biking her perimeter and hiking every bluff,

slope and drainage in an effort to understand this landscape and the

animals and plants that depend on it.

During these past 40 years of informal exploration and observation

I have had many wonderful experiences on the west bay side of Upper

Newport Bay, watching burrowing owls catch grasshoppers in the open

fields, trapdoor spiders pulling prey into their secretive silk-lined

holes, gray fox pups nervously leaving the safety of their den for

the first time.

Sadly, I have also watched all of these animals, and more, slowly

disappear from the Back Bay. Each year as more and more visitors come

to the bay, the number of “volunteer” trails increase and widen,

habitat becomes more fragmented, homes for wildlife are eliminated,

and erosion into the Bay increases.

I have also spent a great deal of time in Everglades National Park

and Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp in Florida, wetland ecosystems that

face the continuing challenge of balancing the needs of wildlife with

those of a visiting public eager to view that wildlife and recreate

close to nature. I have seen firsthand how effective well designed

boardwalks and trails can be in allowing visitors access to sensitive

wetlands without compromising the protection and restoration of that

resource.

The Back Bay faces the same set of challenges; the question is how

will we meet those challenges? Will we continue with the status quo

and watch our list of endangered species grow, as nature declines on

the west bay? Or will we follow the lead of other great parks and

create a system of boardwalks and trails that gives people the access

they want while protecting and restoring the nature they love?

JIM COKAS

Newport Beach