NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:The work on Bolsa Chica isn’t finished

Vic and I attended a terrific conference on the Bolsa Chica this weekend that was put on by the Western Alliance for Nature, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust.

The two-day event featured talks by such notables as Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, State Sen. Tom Harmon and wetland restoration specialist Joy Zedler, as well as specialty field trips led by Dick Zembal, Bob Hoffman, Guy Stivers, Kim Kolpin, Trude Hurde and others.

We’ve spent the past 25 years living and breathing Bolsa Chica, and yet we still learned new things at the conference, which was held at the Waterfront Hilton’s outdoor pavilion.

The conference kicked off with introductions of the three sponsoring groups. Shirley Detloff presented a historical overview of the Bolsa Chica, and the fight led by the Amigos to save the wetlands. The Amigos were able to eliminate the marina and a significant amount of housing that had been planned for the lowlands before their funds for the legal battle ran out.

Connie Boardman reviewed the role of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, which formed in 1992 primarily to save all of Bolsa Chica, including the mesa. In 1996, they sued the Coastal Commission over housing on the wetlands and the proposed filling of Warner Pond.

Boardman said that volunteers with the Bolsa Chica Stewards, the restoration sub-group of the Land Trust, have planted 11,000 plants since their inception, and the trust’s Miracles of the Marsh education program has given tours to 6,000 students during the past five years.

Larry Wan spoke for the Western Alliance for Nature, a non-profit group that he formed to purchase and restore at-risk lands throughout the Western Hemisphere.

He and his wife Sara Wan organized this conference primarily to raise funds for an endowment to create a comprehensive management plan for the mesa, which is being planted with no government-approved plan.

Specific goals for restoration need to be developed and reviewed by the Department of Fish and Game, which is the land manager, with input from the community on what they would like to see happen on the mesa.

One issue is what type of restoration should occur on the mesa. It is mainly non-native grasses, black mustard and wild radish and is fenced off from public access. The area supports lizards and rodents, which in turn support raptors, great blue herons and coyotes.

Replacing this grassland with perennial coastal sage scrub will alter the ecosystem to the detriment of the raptors and herons. And certainly putting trails through the mesa will reduce the value for wildlife.

One theme that recurred during the conference was global warming and the changes that will occur as a result. Former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley emphasized how global climate change will affect both snowmelt and saltwater intrusion into the Bay Delta, and hence negatively affect our local water supply.

She pointed out that storms are more severe and heat waves are more intense as a result of global warming. Increased heat results in increased smog, and the incidence of asthma in children has risen as a result.

Vic was the morning’s keynote speaker. He pointed out that no marsh is an island. Bolsa Chica is connected to other marshes through the ocean and through the land. He listed several continuing threats to Bolsa Chica, including sea level rise due to global warming, urban runoff, oil spills, invasive species, misguided restoration efforts, vandalism, pets and over usage.

We plan to cover what we mean by misguided restoration, both professional and amateur, in a future column. Vic went on to encourage the three citizen groups — the Amigos, the Land Trust and the Bolsa Chica Conservancy — to work together. His plea for forbearance, understanding and cooperation was well taken.

Zedler gave a regional perspective on Bolsa Chica, sharing her experiences with restoration of Tijuana River Estuary. She encouraged use of topographic heterogeneity in salt-marsh restoration. That simply means we should leave a few bumps and gullies on the mudflats and upper marsh to create better habitat for a greater number of species. She recommended using spiny rush and boxthorn for natural fencing to keep the public off restricted areas.

We’re going to run out of room before we run out of complimentary things to say about this conference. The afternoon included a panel on the role of government in ecosystem preservation. Peter Douglas of the Coastal Commission said that the biggest problem for the environment is ignorance and apathy.

Mary Small, the supervisor of our local California Coastal Conservancy district, pointed out that Bolsa Chica has been the recipient of more small grants from the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project than any other area.

The final panel covered Bolsa Chica and the local economy. Steve Bone said that one of the greatest sins is the under-funding of nearly every environmental agency. Debbie Cook pointed out that while oil production originally saved Bolsa Chica from development, it may ultimately kill it through sea level rise due to global warming. She said that we’ve really overshot our carrying capacity on this planet. Vic and I couldn’t agree more.

The next day featured field trips. We learned from Bob Hoffman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that there are only about a dozen fish species that use muted tidal wetlands, versus about 40 species that utilize fully tidal wetlands. Vic and Mark Bixby led a perimeter tour of Bolsa Chica that addressed issues of land use.

The Shea property, or bean field as it is sometimes known, is the focus of the next fight to preserve as much of the Bolsa Chica ecosystem as possible.

We wrapped up our day with a field trip led by Dick Zembal that focused on endangered species. Zembal is a leading expert on light-footed clapper rails. He pointed out that there are now four pairs of clapper rails nesting in restored wetlands at the mouth of the Santa Ana River. We hope that with the planting of cordgrass in the new full-tidal basin that clapper rails will again nest at Bolsa Chica.

Our hats are off to the organizing committee: Larry and Sara Wan, Alexia Swanepoel, Marc Stirdivant, Flossie Horgan, Shirley Detloff, Mel Nutter, Gerald Chapman, Thomas Anderson, David Carlberg, Kim Kolpin, and Paul Arms. We hope that this will become an annual event and that the Bolsa Chica Conservancy will participate in the next conference.