Little Shell restoration begins

Jenny Marder

Construction is underway on a small pocket of wetlands that

environmentalists have fought for years to preserve.

Dubbed Little Shell by environmentalists, the acre of degraded

wetlands is located about 1,000 feet inland of the northwest corner

of Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard. The property was

formerly owned by the Robert Mayer Corp., which had planned to pave

over the area to make way for additional homes before a settlement

agreement to preserve the wetlands was reached in 2002.

The preservation and restoration of wetlands is a monumental

occasion, no matter how small the area restored, project manager Gary

Gorman said. Gorman is heading up the restoration for the Huntington

Beach Wetlands Conservancy, whose mission it is to restore degraded

wetlands to their natural state as a thriving habitat for plants and

endangered wildlife.

“Any time we can get any of this preserved forever to save what

little we have left, we think that’s positive,” Gorman said.

The wetland area will be surrounded by 2 1/2 acres of storm-water

treatment wetlands, which the Robert Mayer Corp. was directed by the

city to construct.

Urban runoff from surrounding condominiums and street runoff from

the west side of Beach Boulevard will flow into Little Shell, where

it will settle into ponds to be naturally filtered out by plants

before entering the wetlands, said Larry Brose, senior vice president

with the Robert Mayer Corp.

“Water, as it flows downhill, will go through various cleansing

through this treatment zone, so when the water actually gets into

this wetland, it’s as clean as can be,” Brose said. “We want to make

certain the water, when it reaches the wetland, isn’t contaminated

with oil or trash or other things, and this treatment will do that.”

The treatment zone will be ready by July 1, he said

Restoration of the wetlands, which Gorman said will take about a

month to complete, is the result of a hard-fought battle. Joey

Racano, local activist and one-time City Council candidate, picketed

at the site for 111 days, “at times in the driving rain,” he said.

“I’m humbled,” Racano said. “This has convinced me that you can

make a difference.”

In 1998, city officials and the Robert Mayer Corp. reached an

agreement containing several provisions over the developer’s plans

for the area, including the termination dates of hotel leases,

cost-sharing between both parties to demolish and clear mobile homes,

as well as a plan to fill in Little Shell in return for restoring an

area four times larger at the Shipley Nature Center.

Dispute over Little Shell led to a settlement in November of 2000

with the California Coastal Commission, where the Robert Mayer Corp.

and the city agreed to preserve the land from development.

“Developers saw this as an opportunity to do a couple of things --

to build the wetlands and treat the runoff,” Gorman said. “Developers

are paying for this.”

It was a community effort, Racano said, as he was joined by

somebody new every day.

“It was the community that saved it and I’m proud of it,” he said.

Landscapers are in the process of grading the channels, the

islands and the ground, in order to allow the water to flow into the

wetlands. Once this is complete, they will begin planting vegetation.

“There are thousands of plants that they’re going to be planting

and they’re all native species,” Gorman said. “Once the water’s

flowing and the plants are in, then the land is protected.”

Of the 2,000 acres that used to stretch along the coast of

Huntington Beach, only about 190 acres remain.

“Only about 10% of coastal wetlands is left in Southern California

and Huntington is not unique,” Gorman said. “We’re trying to preserve

what little coastal wetlands is left.”