Natural Perspectives:

I got word by e-mail last week that Jeff Stoddard had received a promotion within the Department of Fish and Game and would soon be leaving his position as manager of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (Jeff shares responsibilities with Kelly O’Reilly, who manages the newly restored portions of Bolsa Chica). I quickly called him to extend my regrets at losing him and my congratulations on his advancement.

Jeff, Lou and I sat down for a chat over soft drinks Saturday afternoon.

At 28, Jeff’s career with the department is just getting started. He graduated from Humboldt State with a degree in wildlife management and was sent to Bolsa Chica as his rookie assignment with the department. I’d say they threw him into the deep end of the pool.

I’ve heard from other department employees that working in Orange County is not considered a dream job. There is no cost of living premium for state employees and the cost of housing around here is a lot higher than it is in, say, Alturas.

Furthermore, Bolsa Chica is a refuge fraught with problems, from chronic vandalism of fences and signs to the ongoing maelstrom of political controversy that never seems to abate at Bolsa Chica.

Jeff came to Bolsa in December 2006, a few months after the opening of the new tidal inlet in August. When he departs Aug. 24, he will have been here nearly three years. I haven’t kept records, but that seems like about the tenure of Jeff’s predecessors in the management role at Bolsa.

His next assignment will be in the Sacramento area, working with farmers and other landowners who want to improve their wetlands and grasslands for the benefit of wildlife. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Lou and I asked him what he thought his major accomplishments had been. He paused for a moment and then reminded us that Bolsa Chica had not been his only responsibility. He was also in charge of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, which has had a multimillion-dollar dredging project going on for several years, as well as smaller areas at Laguna Laurel and Coal Canyon. As a result, he has spent only an average of two days per week at Bolsa for most of his three years.

What he is most proud of at Bolsa is definitely the pedestrian bridge that is scheduled for construction this autumn. This project has been on the books for many years. But when Jeff arrived, signals from Sacramento were that funding for the project was going to be withdrawn. Jeff fought to retain that funding and got the project back on track.

After years of further delay, a construction contract was finally signed two weeks ago and the contractor should be on-site putting the pre-fabricated bridge in place by October. The department plans to bring Jeff back from Sacramento for a few days to supervise the actual installation because he has been so involved in putting it all together.

Jeff told us that when he arrived, the outgoing reserve manager, Brian Shelton, told Jeff that there were two things that Jeff needed to do.

One was vigorously pursue the pedestrian bridge project. The second was to do everything he could to keep the three different Bolsa Chica citizens groups working together rather than at cross purposes.

Now there’s probably not much that either Brian or Jeff could do along those lines, but it sounds like a worthy goal to me. Jeff told us that he sees signs of better working relationships among the groups. Let’s hope he’s right.

Jeff stressed to us his firm belief that there is still plenty of work for these groups to do. Bolsa Chica has, for the most part, been saved from development. The struggle that resulted in that achievement was exciting, but in some ways, he said, “the hardest part is yet to come.”

Jeff will head to Sacramento soon, leaving his wife, Becky, and their two young sons here for a short time. Becky will be involved in the packing process. Not only will they miss this community, the community will miss them.

Since they moved into their apartment, they instituted potlucks and get-togethers so people could get to know each other better. Jeff told us that when babies cry and noisy parties run late, an established good relationship with neighbors can help people get through such inconveniences in good grace.

Let’s hope that some of Jeff’s positive attitude has rubbed off on the leaders and members of the various Bolsa Chica groups so that they will be able to work together effectively in the future. When problems arise at Bolsa Chica, as they inevitably will, it is going to take all three groups working in concert to get them resolved.

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