Wetland Restoration Update in Huntington Beach
Experts:
Gabrielle Dorr
Montrose Settlements Restoration Program
T.: (562) 980-3236
Gordon Smith
Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy
T.: (714) 307-9775
David Witting
Fish Biologist
NOAA Restoration Center / Montrose Settlements Restoration Program
E.: David.witting@noaa.gov
T.: (562) 980-3235
Relevant Links:
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For more information on the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program projects and other restoration conducted by NOAA DARRP and its partners, please visit www.darrp.noaa.gov.
Tools:
Revised:
July 24, 2009
The Talbert Marsh (above) connects the ocean to the entire Huntington Beach wetlands complex. Credit: NOAA DARRP
July 24, 2009
Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334
HUNTINGTON BEACH — For the first time in a century, salt water from the Pacific Ocean is pouring into Brookhurst marsh in Huntington Beach, replenishing a habitat that is expected to flourish with native plants, invertebrates, rare birds and fishes, and become part of the future Orange Coast River Park.
The levee breaching that is returning seawater to the once dusty, barren patch is the most recent milestone of a decades-long grassroots and government-led effort to restore 180 acres of former marshland along the Pacific Coast Highway in “Surf City.”
The first milestone was the breaching of the dike separating the Talbert marsh from the flood control channel in 1989. The Talbert, Brookhurst and Magnolia marshes are all that is left of what was once a 3,000-acre tidal wetland complex beneath the western bluffs of what is now Costa Mesa, near the mouth of the Santa Ana River.
“Opening Huntington Beach wetlands to full tidal flow is the single most critical step in recreating nursery and foraging habitats for a diverse community of fish, invertebrates and birds,” says David Witting, a fish biologist with NOAA’s Restoration Center in Long Beach.
NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP)
is overseeing much of the habitat restoration, including ongoing
planting of native plants such as pickleweed, cord grass and
salt grass. About $2.1 million of funding for the project comes from
the work of DARRP and partners in the 2001 settlement of the Montrose/
Palos Verdes Shelf lawsuit.
The Montrose Chemical Company in Torrance disposed of millions of pounds of DDT and PCBs into the municipal sewer system, the outfall of which is over the Palos Verdes Shelf, from the 1940s to the 1970s.
“The DDTs and PCBs are still contaminating fish on the shelf,” Witting explains. “The habitat cannot be repaired so instead the goal is to restore nearby fish habitats.”
Above: One of the many thousands of young California halibut living in the Huntington Beach wetlands complex. Credit: NOAA DARRP
Enter Huntington Beach wetlands, a place where under natural conditions thousands of fish such as halibut would spend their youth.
“We are already seeing halibut in the new Brookhurst marsh system,” says Gordon Smith of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, the non-profit land trust that has long had the vision for returning the area to a natural state and is the on-the-ground, in-the-trenches manager of the wetlands project. “Other species are discovering the marsh and using it, too. We are pleasantly surprised.”
Restoration of the third and last wetland in the complex, the 40-acre Magnolia marsh, will begin this fall, with a $3.3-million injection of federal stimulus money recently awarded to the Conservancy.
“We have a shovel-ready project at just the right time,” Smith says.“We are really pleased at the timing of how this has all come together.”
The Magnolia marsh project will involve excavating soils to create meandering water channels and revegetating with native plants. The Orange County Register newspaper reports that the stimulus funding for the project is expected to create about 60 jobs.
Besides the jobs and adding 40 more acres to the wetlands wildlife area, the completion of Magnolia marsh will also bring the vision of creating a connected open space along the Santa Ana River — the Orange Coast River Park — one step closer.
For more information on the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program projects and other restoration conducted by NOAA DARRP and its partners, please visit www.darrp.noaa.gov.
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