Bolsa Chica regains its ocean inflow

95 percent of California's saltwater marshes have succumbed to development. So it is good news that at least one wetland has been restored.

The Los Angeles Daily News reports the details of this historic day: $100 million plan is fulfilled

The 387-acre Bolsa Chica basin near Huntington Beach was filled by the incoming tide after bulldozers knocked down the last of the 400-foot-long sand barrier. The area had been separated from the ocean for 107 years.

Eight state and federal agencies are involved in the project that has become the largest and most ambitious restoration of coastal wetlands in the history of California.

"Not many wetlands have been restored in the world, especially in an oil field," said Shirley Dettloff, who's been fighting for the wetlands for since the 1970s. "Even we locals sometimes forget that this was the second-largest functioning oil field in the state of California."

The degraded wetlands are currently home to 200 species of birds, including six endangered or threatened species. Biologists will introduce two types of plants to the wetlands - eel grass and cord grass - to provide nesting habitat for some of the endangered birds.

At one time, as many as 4,884 homes were proposed on 1,100 acres of the wetlands. The plan was scaled back several times and the state paid $25 million for 880 acres to add to the land available for wetlands preservation. Now, homebuilding is confined to an upper mesa area of Bolsa Chica, with a 356-home development under way.

The restoration was funded in part by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to make up for marine habitat destroyed during expansion.