Bolsa Chica restoration moves forward

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

If you’ve visited the Bolsa Chica and walked across the boardwalk

lately, you’ve seen it. Bulldozers come and go in the back Bolsa,

moving centuries of deposited silt and sand into fresh new contours.

Beyond the boardwalk, the trail is closed for construction.

Restoration project manager Jack Fancher gave an update of

progress recently to representatives of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica,

Bolsa Chica Land Trust and Bolsa Chica Conservancy. Restoration

entails a lot of details that aren’t immediately apparent to sidewalk

supervisors. For one thing, there is the issue of “Cell 3.” But

before we get to that, we need some background on the restoration

that occurred decades ago.

The original Bolsa Chica restoration was conducted by the

California Department of Fish and Game in 1978. They graded the Inner

Bolsa, created two sand islands for tern nesting and restored tidal

flow. But the tidal flow was restricted by culverts at the tide

gates. While the water level in Outer Bolsa Bay has a full tidal

range of eight feet, the level in Inner Bolsa Bay is severely muted.

It fluctuates only 18 inches.

The result was relatively poor oxygenation of the waters of Inner

Bolsa, with a less diverse population of invertebrates. If you’re

looking for interesting invertebrates in Inner Bolsa, there isn’t

much point in looking beyond the first 100 feet beyond the tide

gates. That’s the only part of the water that is oxygenated enough to

support even a limited range of mollusks or crustaceans. For example,

that’s the only place where we’ve seen striped seahares in Inner

Bolsa. That’s also where we’ve seen limpets, slipper shells, lined

shorecrabs and ring-spotted dorids. Brown seahares crawl all the way

to the walk bridge, and mussels and clams are found throughout Inner

Bolsa, but most other large invertebrates seem to avoid Inner Bolsa

Bay.

That brings us to “Cell 3.” The Department of Fish and Game tried

to restore this cell at the southeastern end of the Ecological

Reserve about 20 years ago by opening it to Inner Bolsa. But there

hadn’t been enough tidal flow to even adequately restore Inner Bolsa.

There sure wasn’t enough flow to restore yet more acreage. So “Cell

3” languished, a restoration failure.

Nevertheless, it did have water in it. That water had to be

removed before “Cell 3” could be incorporated into the new

restoration plan. To salvage as much wildlife as possible, U.S. Fish

and Wildlife held a fish roundup. Water was pumped out. As the level

declined, fish were scooped up in nets and released into Inner Bolsa.

Workers relocated lots of topsmelt, gobies and pipefish. The latter

are a favorite food of the many wintering eared grebes at Bolsa

Chica. The workers also rounded up and released long-jawed

mudsuckers, killifish and round stingrays, as well as a few large

yellowfin croakers.

There were more surprises in “Cell 3.” Before the State Lands

Commission accepted the Bolsa property, they spent $5.8 million to

sample and characterize contamination in the soil. “Cell 3” was among

the sites that had been contaminated with oil-related toxics. Back

when it was restored, no one tested for toxics, so the contaminated

soil was exposed to waters of the Inner Bolsa for two decades. This

water washed into Outer Bolsa, Huntington Harbour, and Anaheim Bay.

Now, with restoration, that source of contamination has been closed

to Inner Bolsa and will be cleaned up. This was an unexpected benefit

to restoration.

Overall, the levels of soil contaminants were considered fairly

low but still of ecological concern. The main contaminants were

oil-related, but heavy metals and pesticides from urban runoff were

also found. Mildly contaminated soils will be dealt with mainly by

being buried on site. If concentrations of contaminants exceed

specified levels, the dirt will be hauled off site. For more

information, visit the restoration website at bolsachica.fws.gov/.

The worst contaminant found was PCBs, which were found on the

Fieldstone property. This parcel is not part of the current

restoration project, but may be restored in the future. PCB sites

will be cleaned starting in January, and will be finished by the end

of that month. The State Lands Commission doesn’t want to take title

to the land until all of the PCBs are cleaned, so finishing that

chore will be a landmark date.

The feature of the project that will be most obvious to the public

will be rerouting PCH during construction. On the night of Dec. 17,

traffic will be shunted to the detour that is now under construction

near the south end of Bolsa Chica oil field, just north of the

bluffs. Once the new bridge is completed in June, traffic will be

returned to PCH.

Over the past 30 years, many who fought to save Bolsa Chica never

thought they would see it restored. Well, it’s finally happening.

Fancher will hold a town hall meeting in the library on Jan. 26 at 7

p.m. to report on progress. Representatives from the State Lands

Commission, Department of Fish and Game, and the contractors will

also be there. Meanwhile, go down to the Bolsa Chica and take a look

at history in the making.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].