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Bolsa Chica Wetlands: wildly successful

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 20, 2008 at 6:58 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Two years ago, the saltwater oasis off Pacific Coast Highway was a desiccated oil field littered with drilling rigs. Now, waters lap sandy shoals next to Bolsa Chica State Beach as thousands of terns squawk and flutter, jammed together in a wall of white feathers and gray chick fuzz.

With every spawning grunion and nesting sparrow, the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach are springing back to life, fulfilling the dream of conservationists who fought for decades to save one of Southern California’s most sensitive ecosystems.

By blasting through part of a parking lot and a century-old barrier created by duck hunters, engineers reconnected the 367-acre tidal basin with the ocean. Since then, a steady parade of sea creatures have found their way to a revived saltwater home, bringing multitudes of hungry shorebirds with them.

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 change is dramatic and continues to improve as time goes on,” said Kelly O’Reilly, associate marine fisheries biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game. “I’ve been watching the place kind of come to life over the last year and a half.”

Read more on this story from the Los Angeles Times by clicking here. Be sure to check out the photo gallery for some really great shots!

July 20, 2008 · Filed Under Other Oceans & Beaches Stories