How one California wetland was saved while wetlands worldwide are disappearing
A standing testament to successful conservation efforts, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve protects nearly 1,300 acres of coastal wetlands along Huntington Beach. Here’s the history of Southern California’s largest wetland restoration project.
We’re at the Bolsa Chica ecological reserve, the largest restored wetland in Southern California’s history — nearly 1,300 acres of coastal estuary bordered by the city of Huntington Beach.
Wetlands are areas where water covers soil, maybe year-round, maybe seasonally. They’re home to plants and animals that have adapted to these neither entirely dry nor entirely wet habitats.
You might see a snowy egret diving into the shallow pools, or a long-billed curlew or marbled godwit stabbing their bill into the mudflats for an invertebrate meal.
That is thanks to the efforts of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, and eventually a much larger coalition, who confronted developers and several state agencies in the late 1970s.
A decades-long legal battle ensued until California purchased an additional 880 acres for public ownership in 1997.
Those housing developers, Signal Landmark, purchased from the heirs of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club. The group of moneyed duck hunters built a dam to keep the sea water out and the duck ponds mostly tranquil.
But now, after over a hundred years, the tide flows naturally.
Restoration was completed in 2006 with the construction of an inlet to the Pacific Ocean. They restored saline conditions by mixing sea and freshwater and re-creating a historic habitat for invertebrate, fish, bird, and plant species.
Wetlands are essential to us too.
They soak up storms and treat water and are even involved in the climate crisis as carbon sinks. They absorb more carbon in their vegetation and soil than any other ecosystem. But when warmed or disturbed, wetlands can release that carbon along with other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.
California has lost upward of 90% of its historical wetlands, mostly through land-use and development, when they were drained and built over.
One study estimates that a fifth of global wetlands may have been lost in the last three centuries.
Wetlands are areas where water covers soil, maybe year-round, maybe seasonally. They’re home to plants and animals that have adapted to these neither entirely dry nor entirely wet habitats.
You might see a snowy egret diving into the shallow pools, or a long-billed curlew or marbled godwit stabbing their bill into the mudflats for an invertebrate meal.
That is thanks to the efforts of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, and eventually a much larger coalition, who confronted developers and several state agencies in the late 1970s.
A decades-long legal battle ensued until California purchased an additional 880 acres for public ownership in 1997.
Those housing developers, Signal Landmark, purchased from the heirs of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club. The group of moneyed duck hunters built a dam to keep the sea water out and the duck ponds mostly tranquil.
But now, after over a hundred years, the tide flows naturally.
Restoration was completed in 2006 with the construction of an inlet to the Pacific Ocean. They restored saline conditions by mixing sea and freshwater and re-creating a historic habitat for invertebrate, fish, bird, and plant species.
Wetlands are essential to us too.
They soak up storms and treat water and are even involved in the climate crisis as carbon sinks. They absorb more carbon in their vegetation and soil than any other ecosystem. But when warmed or disturbed, wetlands can release that carbon along with other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.
California has lost upward of 90% of its historical wetlands, mostly through land-use and development, when they were drained and built over.
One study estimates that a fifth of global wetlands may have been lost in the last three centuries.
