Bolsa Chica Land Trust gets grant for nursery

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust has received a $77,233 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create a restoration nursery that will produce more than 60,000 native plants over the next decade.

The grant, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will support what Land Trust officials described as a sustainable nursery that will leave no environmental footprint. Restoration Coordinator Kim Kolpin said the facility would run on solar and wind power and could be transported around the mesa, which is the upland area of Bolsa Chica adjoining the wetlands.

“There’s no residual,” she said. “There will be nothing behind when it’s gone.”

Kolpin said the state Department of Fish and Game, which owns the mesa, would need an internal permit and another from the California Coastal Commission to start the project, but she expected both to come through within the next year. Liz Epstein, a senior manager for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said the grant money would probably go out the door next year as well.

Kolpin and Flossie Horgan, the Land Trust’s executive director, said the nursery would operate for 10 years to restore vegetation to Bolsa Chica. They expect the project to run with the help of volunteers, including faculty and students from Golden West College’s Environmental Studies program.

“It’s a long endeavor,” Horgan said after the announcement of the grant. “It’s going to be 10 years, but this will help us get it started.”