Bringing back the Huntington Beach Wetlands

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

Last week, Louann and I attended a public presentation by a wetlands

restoration expert. I can’t say it was as much fun as some events,

but by the end of the presentation, the audience rose in a standing

ovation.

The main speaker was Chris Webb of the engineering firm Moffat &

Nichol. He was introduced by Gary Gorman of the Huntington Beach

Wetlands Conservancy.

Chris was getting over a cold and had a cough. It didn’t matter.

It was his message, not his style, that had us so thrilled. The

message was that more restoration may be coming to the coastal salt

marshes of southeast Huntington Beach.

This project has been a long time in the making. All of the

Huntington Beach Wetlands had once been tidal salt marshes, but

highway and flood control projects in the early 20th century cut off

the life-sustaining flow of seawater.

Some background may make the project clearer. Back in 1985, Gary

organized his neighbors in southeast Huntington Beach to protect the

wetlands along Pacific Coast Highway that were virtually in their

backyards. At that time, those wetlands were threatened with

development. Various proposals had been floated for hotels, oil

wells, gas stations and other projects that would destroy the

precious coastal wetlands. Gary, Gordon Smith, Bob Mandic and other

concerned citizens wanted to prevent that.

The fledgling organization was named Friends of the Huntington

Beach Wetlands. In many ways, it was modeled after the Amigos de

Bolsa Chica, the only other environmental organization in town. The

Friends organized clean-ups of the wetlands and blocked the

then-common practice of beachgoers parking on the fragile wetlands.

Being a political group like the Amigos, the Friends also lobbied for

protection of the habitat.

By 1987, the Friends had spun off a new organization, the

Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. This nonpolitical group was

dedicated solely to acquiring, preserving and restoring the wetlands.

They soon got their big chance. Caltrans wanted to unload a parcel of

badly degraded salt marsh between Brookhurst and the Santa Ana River.

This marsh is the southern-most section of the Huntington Beach

Wetlands, and is now known as Talbert Marsh.

The Conservancy acquired the parcel from the state of California

and, with funding from a variety of agencies, knocked down the flood

control levy to reconnect the degraded marsh to the ocean through the

Santa Ana River. Construction was finished in 1991 by creating a

direct connection to the ocean through a new inlet. The semi-dead

marsh immediately sprang back to life. The success of the flourishing

Talbert Marsh restoration is a point of pride for the Conservancy and

for southeast Huntington Beach.

But for decades, the rest of the Huntington Beach Wetlands have

languished. Their habitat values have remained steady because of

rainfall and a high groundwater table, but the habitat value is that

of a degraded wetland, not a fully functioning wetland. All they need

for restoration is tidal flow.

But before they can be restored, they have to be acquired. Over

the past few years, the Conservancy has obtained 60 acres north of

Brookhurst. There are no longer any private owners between the power

plant and Magnolia. Between Magnolia and Brookhurst, the only

remaining owner (besides the Conservancy) is the University of

California at Riverside. How they became an owner of Huntington Beach

real estate is a long story that will wait for another column.

Between the power plant and Beach Boulevard, most of the wetlands

are now owned by a company called Mills Land and Water Company. Mills

has agreed to conservation zoning for the wetlands, so that section

is protected and may become available for restoration.

Following acquisition, there are still two big requirements prior

to restoration: a restoration plan and money to implement it with.

What we learned from Chris Webb was that Moffat & Nichol is about a

third of the way finished with three alternative restoration plans.

Moffat & Nichol is the go-to firm when the issue is coastal

hydrology, that is when the movement of water is the number one

concern. That’s what wetland restoration is all about -- bringing

ocean water back to lands that were once tidally flushed.

That’s what was done at Talbert Marsh in 1989, what will happen

soon at Bolsa Chica, and what we hope will happen eventually at the

rest of the Huntington Beach Wetlands.

At this point, it is not clear how much money will be needed for

restoration, since the plan is not even finished and selection of one

of the three alternatives has not been made. The three plans call for

three different levels of restoration, from limited muted tidal

flushing, which is the least expensive and least satisfactory from a

habitat value standpoint, to full tidal restoration, which is the

most expensive but would offer the highest quality habitat. In any

case, Talbert Marsh will need to be re-contoured to reduce sand

build-up.

One of the benefits of restoring the Huntington Beach Wetlands is

that the wetlands will serve as floodwater detention areas. Since

this part of Huntington Beach is low-lying and prone to flooding (as

we saw in March 1983), any improvements to the local flood control

system would benefit homeowners. Local wildlife would benefit as

well.

Restoration is still a long way off, but someday we hope to give a

rousing cheer as tidal flow resumes in yet another of our local

coastal salt marshes.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

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