Bolsa Chica wetlands have been quickly brought back to life, observers say
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In a story today, Times staff writer Susannah Rosenblatt chronicles the speedy recovery of sea life after a much-fought-over project to reconnect Huntington Beach’s Bolsa Chica wetlands with the ocean succeeded.
The $147-million rebirth has triggered population explosions, with scallops multiplying, followed by topsmelt, halibut, rays and small sharks. Newly built nesting sites offer refuge for a number of endangered birds, such as the California least tern and the threatened western snowy plover. Endangered California brown pelicans are arriving in record numbers, sunning themselves on freshly added mud flats in a marine habitat that has nearly doubled in size.
The swath of undeveloped beachfront property has been fought over for nearly 40 years as developers, nearby residents and the state and federal governments all vied for their varied interests, the story says. The battle pitted ‘environmental hopes against real estate ambitions’ and ‘the protracted legal scrum ultimately scuttled plans for a marina and large waterfront neighborhood,’ according to the story.
Along the property’s edge sit rows of homes and active oil derricks. According to the story, ‘about 95% of California’s coastal wetlands have been destroyed by development.’ The Bolsa Chica project, which involved three-quarters of the total 1,300 acres, is the ‘largest restoration of its kind west of the Mississippi,’ the story says.
-- Tami Abdollah