Bolsa Chica restoration moves forward
VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY
If you’ve visited the Bolsa Chica and walked across the boardwalk
lately, you’ve seen it. Bulldozers come and go in the back Bolsa,
moving centuries of deposited silt and sand into fresh new contours.
Beyond the boardwalk, the trail is closed for construction.
Restoration project manager Jack Fancher gave an update of
progress recently to representatives of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica,
Bolsa Chica Land Trust and Bolsa Chica Conservancy. Restoration
entails a lot of details that aren’t immediately apparent to sidewalk
supervisors. For one thing, there is the issue of “Cell 3.” But
before we get to that, we need some background on the restoration
that occurred decades ago.
The original Bolsa Chica restoration was conducted by the
California Department of Fish and Game in 1978. They graded the Inner
Bolsa, created two sand islands for tern nesting and restored tidal
flow. But the tidal flow was restricted by culverts at the tide
gates. While the water level in Outer Bolsa Bay has a full tidal
range of eight feet, the level in Inner Bolsa Bay is severely muted.
It fluctuates only 18 inches.
The result was relatively poor oxygenation of the waters of Inner
Bolsa, with a less diverse population of invertebrates. If you’re
looking for interesting invertebrates in Inner Bolsa, there isn’t
much point in looking beyond the first 100 feet beyond the tide
gates. That’s the only part of the water that is oxygenated enough to
support even a limited range of mollusks or crustaceans. For example,
that’s the only place where we’ve seen striped seahares in Inner
Bolsa. That’s also where we’ve seen limpets, slipper shells, lined
shorecrabs and ring-spotted dorids. Brown seahares crawl all the way
to the walk bridge, and mussels and clams are found throughout Inner
Bolsa, but most other large invertebrates seem to avoid Inner Bolsa
Bay.
That brings us to “Cell 3.” The Department of Fish and Game tried
to restore this cell at the southeastern end of the Ecological
Reserve about 20 years ago by opening it to Inner Bolsa. But there
hadn’t been enough tidal flow to even adequately restore Inner Bolsa.
There sure wasn’t enough flow to restore yet more acreage. So “Cell
3” languished, a restoration failure.
Nevertheless, it did have water in it. That water had to be
removed before “Cell 3” could be incorporated into the new
restoration plan. To salvage as much wildlife as possible, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife held a fish roundup. Water was pumped out. As the level
declined, fish were scooped up in nets and released into Inner Bolsa.
Workers relocated lots of topsmelt, gobies and pipefish. The latter
are a favorite food of the many wintering eared grebes at Bolsa
Chica. The workers also rounded up and released long-jawed
mudsuckers, killifish and round stingrays, as well as a few large
yellowfin croakers.
There were more surprises in “Cell 3.” Before the State Lands
Commission accepted the Bolsa property, they spent $5.8 million to
sample and characterize contamination in the soil. “Cell 3” was among
the sites that had been contaminated with oil-related toxics. Back
when it was restored, no one tested for toxics, so the contaminated
soil was exposed to waters of the Inner Bolsa for two decades. This
water washed into Outer Bolsa, Huntington Harbour, and Anaheim Bay.
Now, with restoration, that source of contamination has been closed
to Inner Bolsa and will be cleaned up. This was an unexpected benefit
to restoration.
Overall, the levels of soil contaminants were considered fairly
low but still of ecological concern. The main contaminants were
oil-related, but heavy metals and pesticides from urban runoff were
also found. Mildly contaminated soils will be dealt with mainly by
being buried on site. If concentrations of contaminants exceed
specified levels, the dirt will be hauled off site. For more
information, visit the restoration website at bolsachica.fws.gov/.
The worst contaminant found was PCBs, which were found on the
Fieldstone property. This parcel is not part of the current
restoration project, but may be restored in the future. PCB sites
will be cleaned starting in January, and will be finished by the end
of that month. The State Lands Commission doesn’t want to take title
to the land until all of the PCBs are cleaned, so finishing that
chore will be a landmark date.
The feature of the project that will be most obvious to the public
will be rerouting PCH during construction. On the night of Dec. 17,
traffic will be shunted to the detour that is now under construction
near the south end of Bolsa Chica oil field, just north of the
bluffs. Once the new bridge is completed in June, traffic will be
returned to PCH.
Over the past 30 years, many who fought to save Bolsa Chica never
thought they would see it restored. Well, it’s finally happening.
Fancher will hold a town hall meeting in the library on Jan. 26 at 7
p.m. to report on progress. Representatives from the State Lands
Commission, Department of Fish and Game, and the contractors will
also be there. Meanwhile, go down to the Bolsa Chica and take a look
at history in the making.
* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and
environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.
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