NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series about the coming year.

Last week, Lou and I listed a few of the upcoming changes that we expect in our local environment during 2009. We discussed the dredging that will clear out the new inlet at Bolsa Chica, the long-awaited addition of indoor plumbing to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s interpretive building at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, and the upcoming restoration of the Huntington Wetlands.

Here are a few more things to watch for this year.

Dredging at the Huntington Wetlands

Every so often, the inlet at Talbert Marsh must be dredged to keep it open. In a natural system, major winter storms would flush out an ocean opening, but in today’s world of flood control channels, the volume of water is never enough to keep a restored marsh open. So man must intervene.

The dredge has already arrived at the Talbert Marsh, and is being assembled in the water. Dredging operations may well be underway by publication time. This electric dredge will operate around the clock six days a week until the work is done, which is expected to take four or five weeks. Once Talbert Marsh is dredged, the equipment may be relocated to the Brookhurst side of the marsh to help pump mud into a deep retention basin. This mud will then be covered with three feet of sand during the restoration process

Poseidon goes to CCC

During 2009, the Poseidon desalination project will go before the California Coastal Commission. The commission is the last in a long list of public agencies that need to approve the project before construction can begin. All the prior decisions have been positive, so this last one will be key. In 2008, the commission approved a very similar proposal from the same company for a desalination plant in Carlsbad. The San Diego area faces even worse water shortage problems than does Orange County, but concern about water is strong in our area as well. In the interests of full disclosure, I have consulted with Poseidon over the past few years, but have refrained from using this column for free publicity in favor of the project.

Ascon-NESI landfill

One of Huntington Beach’s longest running environmental concerns is the 38-acre Ascon-NESI landfill on the southwest corner of Hamilton Avenue and Magnolia Street. This was the site, in decades past, of the dumping of oil field waste and some nasty chemicals, such as styrene. A few years ago, a temporary earthen cap was placed over much of the site to keep odors and harmful chemicals from the residential areas that have sprung up around the site. Now the current owners, Cannery Hamilton LLC, together with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, are beginning the paperwork before a final cleanup. An environmental impact report will need to be prepared. The first step toward that was a study session for the City Council at its first 2009 meeting Monday. I’m told that additional clean-up work could get started by midyear, but DTSC doesn’t expect completion of the full project until 2015.

History of Bolsa Chica

Professor David Carlberg, president of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and longtime environmental activist, promises me that his long-awaited history of Bolsa Chica will finally be published during the coming year. Carlberg is a retired professor of microbiology at Cal State Long Beach and the author of several textbooks as well as a book about microbes written for the general public. Also, we hear that his son Marvin is working on a book on Huntington Beach history with Independent columnist Chris Epting.

Pedestrian bridge at Bolsa Chica

Since 2005, the Department of Fish and Game and local groups have worked toward building a footbridge across Outer Bolsa Bay just south of Warner Avenue. Construction went out to bid last month, and a contractor should be selected soon and construction underway by the end of January. The new bridge will be a great improvement from a safety point of view. Currently pedestrians, including school groups, must cross the Warner Avenue bridge, where there is no sidewalk.

Topping the berm at Bolsa Chica

At 8 a.m. Saturday and 8:30 a.m. Sunday, a 7.2-foot-high tide is expected to come to Bolsa Chica, the highest tides of 2009. Over the past few years, erosion from foot traffic and rainfall have worn down the berm between the tidal channel at Warner Avenue and the restored wetlands cells by the Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s interpretive building. These high tides are cutting a new channel that will someday connect these muted tidal cells with the full tidal Warner channel. A fully tidal, or at least a less muted system, would be beneficial to the salt marsh that currently struggles with limited flushing. We plan to watch again this year to see the water flow over the top of the earthen berm, cheering it on. If it rains that day, the flooding will be even more dramatic.

In conclusion, 2009 is bound to be bleak from an economic point of view for many. One silver lining for environmentalists is that population growth is likely to be slower. New home construction and sales are likely to be slow as long as money remains tight. While that isn’t good news for builders and Realtors, it bodes better for traffic and loss of open space. One thing is for sure: 2009 is going to bring more changes to Huntington Beach.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.