mailbag - Aug. 30, 2001

Robert Winchell’s explanation (“Inlet not best way to save wetlands”

Aug. 16) why the tidal inlet plan for the restoration of the Bolsa Chica

wetlands is bad and the alternative without an inlet is good leaves out

one important consideration: biology. Omitting a tidal inlet in the

wetlands restoration would be like sealing up all the doors and windows

of one’s house. Sooner or later the house would be unlivable.

The alternative plan that Winchell touts would rely on sea water

coming all the way from Anaheim Bay to flush the wetlands through tide

gates once every couple of weeks. Between flushings, the water in the

wetlands would remain motionless, and overheated by the sun and nearing

oxygen depletion. There would be little ecological improvement over

present conditions for birds or fish and in fact for certain fish such as

the California halibut, conditions would be detrimental.

Twice a day, a direct tidal inlet would allow fresh, oxygenated sea

water to enter and nourish the restored wetland, creating a rich and much

improved environment that will provide a wide range of feeding, nesting

and resting habitats for an enormous variety of birds, including several

endangered or threatened species. For instance, frequent tidal action is

necessary to support cord grass, which is essential habitat for the

endangered California light-footed clapper rail. The tidal inlet will

attract fish into the wetlands to feed, avoid predators or spawn, as in

the case of the California halibut, resulting in greatly improved fishing

off our coast. Experience in other coastal wetlands has shown that a

direct tidal inlet can increase biodiversity by factors of 10 or more.

Winchell suggests the state and federal agencies are holding the Bolsa

Chica hostage by claiming no inlet means no money for restoration. The

agencies basically have nothing to lose if the Bolsa Chica is not

restored. The money will still be available to spend on wetlands

elsewhere.

It cannot be used for the no-inlet plan; the habitats it would create

would be too poor to be worth any significant mitigation credit. The real

losers will be the innumerable citizens who have spent as long as 25

years or more working toward seeing the Bolsa Chica restored, and the

tens of thousands of birds, fish and other wildlife that could have used

the Bolsa Chica if the wetland had been properly restored.

DAVID M. CARLBERG

Huntington Beach

I totally agree with Bob Winchell’s letter. As a person who has spent

more than 20 years fighting to acquire, preserve and restore the Bolsa

Chica ecosystem, including the wetlands and mesas, I find the restoration

plan that is being proposed to be highly destructive and disrespectful of

the habitat values that have made Bolsa Chica worth fighting for.

The inlet plan will remove some 2.7 million cubic yards of lowland

habitat, along with the prime nesting areas of the Belding’s Savannah

sparrow, a state endangered bird. This will happen because the state

agencies have to use the money from the ports of Los Angeles and Long

Beach to create full tidal habitat lost from port expansion. The agencies

are holding the Bolsa Chica restoration hostage to this money. They have

stated on more than one occasion that if they don’t get the inlet, the

money won’t be spent at Bolsa Chica. Moreover, they won’t support any

other possible restoration at Bolsa Chica, including the non-inlet

“Alternative 5,” even though this alternative is a lot less expensive, at

$11 million, while their grandiose inlet plan is not fully funded even at

$60 million. Total costs of the inlet plan are not yet known, but the

agencies are going to have to seek additional funds above and beyond the

port money to complete the plan.

Meanwhile, the inlet plan is not a wetland restoration, but a wetland

construction. The original natural architecture of the Bolsa Chica

wetlands, including the Bolsa Chica channels visible on maps from 1873,

will be obliterated, gouged out and removed, and the lowlands rearranged

to accommodate a tidal basin.

A system of culverts and gates will have to be constructed to direct

flow in a managed wetlands system at the back of the lowlands. An untried

and untrue drainage wall system will have to be constructed to protect

the existing homes in the back from sea water intrusion and ground water

alteration. A jetty system will have to be built causing loss of beach,

beach safety problems, beach erosion in perpetuity, and instability of

the Huntington seacliffs.Swimmers will be exposed to bacteria and oil

products draining the wetlands.

The nesting endangered birds will fly away, and the agencies hope, on

a wing and a prayer, that they later come back to their new nesting

grounds next to the houses and their cats in the back of the lowlands.

The Wintersburg flood control channel will still be directed into Outer

Bolsa Bay and Huntington Harbour, along with its unfiltered pollution.

But we do get a Taj Mahal of a restoration plan, with a little bit of

everything thrown in to make everyone a little happy.

So what would happen if we went for Alternative 5, with no inlet? The

water would go into the degraded wetlands through a tide gate located

upstream from where the tide gate now is at the Wintersburg flood control

channel. This life-giving water would irrigate and nourish the wetlands

which have been starved for water for 100 years, like turning on the

sprinklers to turn a brown yard into green grass. The water would flow

again through the established waterways in the lowlands, bringing with it

the ocean and its nutrients, restoring and enhancing the wetlands,

allowing the wetlands to return to its former estuarine system,

especially if fresh water from the Wintersburg channel is also allowed to

filter through the restored wetlands from the back.

With Alternative 5, all of the problems associated with the inlet

disappear, and Huntington Harbour has a way to get clean water. There is

no beach pollution of Bolsa Chica State Beach, no beach erosion, no

seacliff instability, no beach safety problems. There is no, or very

minimal, disruption of valuable endangered species habitat for birds in

the lowlands.

There is no possibility of flooding or changing the ground water for

the homes in the back. There is no need to build a French drain, with

unproved abilities to keep water out of the homes and below their

properties.

On the other hand, with Alternative 5, there is a possibility of using

the wetlands for their natural function as a filter. Allow the water from

the Wintersburg channel to go into the wetlands, as it always did from a

historical perspective when the Santa Ana River and the Freeman Creek

carried fresh water into the Bolsa Chica from the back, as in an estuary.

With no inlet to carry bacteria onto the beach, there is no concern

about beach pollution. The water from the Wintersburg channel is not so

bad that Outer Bolsa Bay is unduly harmed. Witness the vibrant wildlife

in Outer Bolsa Bay. Bolsa Chica could use this water. Don’t send it into

the sewer system as advocated by some on the City Council. By sending the

Wintersburg channel into the wetlands, the wetlands filter the runoff and

we get both wetland enhancement and improvement of water quality in

Huntington Harbour.

It’s obvious that there is another way to restore Bolsa Chica besides

the inlet plan and full tidal. Plain and simple, Bolsa Chica needs water.

Don’t get hung up on transit time. Inner Bolsa Bay does fine with long

transit times. Alternative 5 avoids all the problems with the inlet and

restores a habitat lost by a century of water deprivation. At the lowest

cost. With the quickest results. With a respect for the “beloved haven”

we call Bolsa Chica.

JAN D. VANDERSLOOT

Newport Beach