Stage is set for $100-million Bolsa Chica project

Jenny Marder

The handful of residents who first took up the fight to save the

Bolsa Chica thought they’d never see an end to the battle in their

lifetimes.

But after more than 30 years of tours through the degraded

marshland, countless living room meetings and plea after impassioned

plea for support from the state and Surf City community, restoration

of the Bolsa Chica wetlands is finally nearing the last leg of its

journey.

More than 100 people -- outnumbering the plastic chairs set up in

the Central Library -- listened intently last week to plans to

restore 880 acres of dry, contaminated land into a lush habitat for

birds, fish and wildlife. The $100-million project would be one of

the largest and most expensive wetlands restoration projects

undertaken in California, second only to a project in the San

Francisco Bay.

“We believe that we have all collectively reached a conclusion

that if we don’t restore Bolsa, it will degrade or die,” Jack

Fancher, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told

gathered residents. “The only way to restore it is to connect it to

the ocean.”

The overall mood at the meeting was of enthusiasm and pride in the

project that would connect the degraded wetlands to the sea by

cutting a tidal inlet through the south end of Bolsa Chica State

Beach. The hope is that water will pour in and revitalize the

wetlands into the thriving ecosystem it was before access was cut off

to the ocean by duck hunters more than 100 years ago.

The restored marshland will include a 370-acre full tidal basin

connected to 180 acres of managed tidal area. Roughly 20 acres of new

nesting areas will benefit native birds such as snowy plovers and

least terns. The land is now peppered with oil wells and rigs, which

will be removed once dry and replaced with wetlands vegetation. A

Pacific Coast Highway bridge will be built over the inlet channel.

“Every step in the way has been a step in the direction of

tonight,” said Shirley Dettloff, a founding member of Amigos de Bolsa

Chica and a former councilwoman and coastal commissioner. “The group

here was very knowledgeable. They were smart, and the questions were

great.”

Fancher was grilled by the public, who wanted to know whether

funding sources were reliable, what lead agencies will do to prevent

oil contamination and whether traffic will be slowed during

construction.

“Caltrans is not going to let us slow traffic down,” Fancher

assured residents. “We will have two lanes each direction.”

State and federal officials expressed confidence in the success of

the project, but admitted to some unresolved kinks in the plan. The

cleanup plan that will address contamination removal and the

agreement with Caltrans on the highway construction have yet to be

finalized, Fancher said.

Public access to the restored estuary was also on the minds of

many, especially Brian Westcott, docent and board member of the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica, who said he hopes to take third-graders out to

the site.

“After all of the restoration, I’d like to get in to see the

habitat being restored,” agreed Jennifer Robins, board member of the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica. “I think it’s important to get the public in

to know about the importance of the wetlands.”

Construction workers hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

will begin work on the tidal basin in the fall of 2004.

Before this, the basin will be stripped of the old oil wells and

pipeline that exist on the property. Levies to keep the water from

flooding the surrounding area will be built up around the basin’s

perimeter. The basin will be filled in the fall of 2005.

Fancher estimates construction will be completed by the fall of

2007.

“Once we get to construction, we’re going to complete this

project,” he said.

Dettloff, a key player in the fight to acquire and now restore the

land, said that the job of the next generation will be to maintain

it. Dettloff formerly served as mayor, coastal commissioner and

president of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and is still on the Amigos

board. The man hours that Amigos volunteers have put in over the

years must have numbered in the thousands, she said.

“I always knew this would happen,” Dettloff said. “I just didn’t

know it would happen in my lifetime.”