Native landscaping benefits birds

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

A new children’s play area will open in the Harriett M. Wieder

Regional Park on Huntington Mesa today. Not only will the new play

area benefit local children by giving them a fabulous set of

playground equipment, it will benefit wildlife because the park has

been landscaped with California coastal sage scrub plants.

Phase 1-A of a multi-phase plan is off to a good start with

beautiful native landscaping. A grove of lovely sycamores wends

through the lawn area, with white, black and purple sages, California

sagebrush, coast bush sunflower, bladderpod, buckwheat and coyote

bush planted at the periphery. While about two-thirds of the area is

either paved or landscaped as lawn, at least some of the park will

offer better habitat for wildlife than standard urban park

landscaping.

This park has been a long time coming. In the late 1980s, the

Amigos de Bolsa Chica led the fight to preserve open space on

Huntington Mesa. Harriett Wieder was our Orange County Supervisor at

that time. She was dismayed that her district was the only one in

Orange County without a county park. Finally, our former mayor and

supervisor will see the first phase of her namesake park dedicated

today.

Loraine Faber of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica led the fight to expand

the acreage of what is popularly called the Linear Park because of

its shape -- a narrow strip of bluff-top at the south end of the

Bolsa Chica that is bordered by Seacliff Street. Vic and I were

present at presentations of the county’s plans for the entire park

about 15 years ago. The county’s initial concept was just what you

might expect -- bulldoze the land and cover the whole mesa with

manicured grass and palm trees.

If memory serves correctly, Terry Dolton, Dave and Margaret

Carlberg, Loraine Faber and Jan Vandersloot were present at those

initial planning meetings. Vic hit the roof at the idea of converting

natural habitat at the Bolsa Chica into yet another water-thirsty,

overly landscaped park with a grassy lawn. He insisted on California

native plants and the group backed him up. Given the proximity of

Huntington Mesa to the Bolsa Chica lowlands, it was crucial that the

landscaping of the park support the wildlife values of the wetlands

below. It appears that the county listened.

There also were grave concerns about bulldozing because of the

archeological features of the area. At least some preliminary studies

of the huge shell midden on Huntington Mesa must have been done, but

we’re not sure of the findings. It would have been a shame to wreck

the area with bulldozing.

The Linear Park contains another rare feature: fresh water that

flows down a swale and enters the Bolsa Chica wetlands. This

year-round flow from the Seacliff development forms a freshwater pond

in the Bolsa Chica lowlands. At the initial presentation of the

county’s plan, we learned that they wanted to bulldoze this lovely

swale with its willows and cattails and hide the freshwater flow by

putting it into an underground culvert. You can imagine our outrage

at that concept.

We pointed out that the swale qualified as a wetland and couldn’t

be filled. The willows were small at the time, but the habitat was

still valuable. The county planners agreed that they would not fill

in the wetlands, but to tell you the truth, they seemed disappointed.

I asked Lois Vacker and the late Ridgely Keeley to begin

monitoring the birdlife there. The swale is what birders call a

migrant trap, a hotspot for migrating songbirds. The willows have

since grown to a respectable size and it is now a wonderful place to

bird-watch. Such relatively rare birds as Tennessee warbler,

chestnut-sided warbler and red-eyed vireo have been spotted there in

recent years. There is no way any agency would be allowed to destroy

this valuable habitat now that the trees are mature.

Other than a small number of acres already owned by the county,

most of the land is still owned by Hearthside Homes. The original

plan called for Hearthside to dedicate the land as a county park when

they gained approval to build on Bolsa Chica mesa and lowlands. Under

various names, Signal/Koll/Hearthside has been attempting to build

its Bolsa Chica project for 32 years. Construction doesn’t seem

imminent, so it’s hard to say when, if ever, the remaining land for

the Linear Park will be dedicated.

This first phase of the Linear Park reportedly cost $1.7 million.

The next phase and beyond are budgeted at $4.5 million in today’s

dollars. Given how long this park has been hanging fire, it’s hard to

say what the ultimate cost will be. But whatever the cost and

whenever it is developed, we want to make sure that the community’s

voice has been heard. We hope the community remains vigilant to

ensure that the swale will be saved, the archeological features will

be protected, and the area will be restored as natural habitat, not

landscaped as an ecologically sterile grassy lawn with palms.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

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