Big Canyon lands a big grant

Alicia Robinson

A $500,000 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy will allow the

city to begin the planning and design of a project to restore the Big

Canyon Creek area.

The Coastal Conservancy unanimously voted Wednesday to give the

city the money to flesh out plans for the project, which will take

place on about 55 acres between the Upper Newport Bay and Jamboree

Road known as Big Canyon Nature Park. The restoration will involve

some dredging, removal of nonnative plants, repair of flood damage

from El Nino storms, construction of wetlands that help clean urban

runoff and improvement of walking trails for better public access.

“The funding is very important because it will get us to

construction drawings,” Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave

Kiff said.

The work will move Back Bay Drive about 300 feet farther from the

bay and it will increase the amount of mud flats in the canyon by

more than an acre, Kiff said. Mud flats are the best places for

endangered birds such as the light-footed clapper rail and the

California least tern that live in the Back Bay to find food.

Designing the restoration project should take about a year. After

that, the city will seek funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board

to build it, Kiff said. Construction is expected to cost between $3

million and $5 million.

The Big Canyon Creek project has been many years in the making,

and it’s important to the overall health of the Upper Newport Bay,

Coastal Conservancy spokesman Dick Wayman said.

“One of the biggest problems with Upper Newport Bay has been

accumulation of sediments that have eroded from the watersheds that

feed the bay, and it’s been a serious enough problem that if not

corrected the bay could probably fill up over time,” he said.

The Coastal Conservancy has been working with state and local

authorities for years to improve the health of the bay, Wayman said.

The 1,000-acre Newport Bay is Southern California’s largest tidal

wetland.

“The importance of Upper Newport Bay can’t really be

overemphasized,” Wayman said. “It’s a huge wetland in an urbanized

area. It doesn’t just have local importance; it has national

importance.”