Bolsa Chica, a haven for wildlife

Jenny Marder

By 2007 a vast portion of Bolsa Chica will have been transformed from

1,300 acres of dry, neglected land dotted with oil rigs to a lush,

tidal marsh -- a watery haven for endangered birds, fish and other

wildlife.

The eight groups manning the long-awaited restoration project are

poised to move forward with construction, state and federal officials

told a group of nearly 200 residents at a town hall meeting Thursday.

“I think it’s a wonderful project,” said Jack O’Brien, 65, a Surf

City resident who takes frequent walks along the wetlands. “A lot of

effort has gone into it and I’m looking forward to seeing it come to

fruition.”

Funded largely by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,

restoration of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands calls for 370 acres of full

tidal and 180 acres of muted tidal habitat.

A digital representation of water ebbing and flowing with rise and

fall of the tides was shown at the meeting.

“It’s a dynamically changing habitat condition that’s related to

the tides,” said Jack Fancher of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The sea is life. The sea brings organisms and growth and activity.”

The wetlands will look like a lake at extreme high tide and like a

salt marsh at other times, he said.

The project will involve cutting a tidal inlet through the south

end of Bolsa Chica State Beach and across Pacific Coast Highway,

allowing ocean water to flow into the degraded marshes at the

long-neglected Bolsa Chica lowlands.

Bids for construction, which is slated to begin in October, will

go out in early June. Plans call for a dike to contain the full tidal

range, a bridge over Pacific Coast Highway to cross the tidal inlet

and physical barrier surrounding the wetlands to prevent seawater

from creeping inland. The gas line will also be relocated along AERA

Energy’s oil lines.

“The groundwater barrier will prevent the tidal restoration from

influencing the groundwater under houses,” Fancher said.

Of 56 oil wells and rigs, 36 have already been abandoned.

The abandonment process involves removing surface pumps and tubing

beneath the surface and plugging the mouth of the well with cement to

keep oil from escaping into soil or groundwater. Each well will take

anywhere from three days to a week to decommission.

AERA Energy operates three kinds of wells in the Bolsa Chica --

active producers, electrical submersible wells and injectors. The

wells, which have a producing life of 20 to 25 years, pull about 150

to 200 barrels a day. The first were drilled in 1951.

The oil company has been working closely with state and federal

agencies on the abandonment project.

While construction of the bridge and inlet are underway, Pacific

Coast Highway will be detoured to a narrow strip between the oil

wells and the highway. Work on the highway will involve raising the

road bed up to the level of the bridge.

“While building the bridge over the inlet, we’ve got to keep

Pacific Coast Highway operating,” Fancher said.

A 20-foot bike path will also be rerouted over the bridge.

Several scenic overlooks will be created for pedestrians. The

outlooks are intended “to give a visual panorama, a place to look at

the beauty of our restoration,” Fancher said.

Fancher said the project could be finished by as early as Spring

of 2006.