Native Americans Protest Hearthside Homes Desecration of Ancient Cemetery at Brightwater

With recent reports of over 170 buried human remains dug up and stored in trailers on site, along with the removal of thousands of ancient artifacts, Native Americans and their supporters have started demonstrating their outrage. Every Wednesday night from 5 PM to 6PM at the corner of Bolsa Chica Road and Warner Ave in Huntington Beach there is an informational protest.







There has also been recent evidence uncovered that demonstrates Hearthside Homes withheld information about the human remains from the California Coastal Commission. In addition to demonstrating, the group has filed for a revocation hearing with the California Coastal Commission in an attempt to stop the desecration of the cemetery of their ancestors.

Wall of Death Surrounds Sacred Cemetery

Scene near the cemetery at Brightwater. Over 4,000 artifacts, and over 170 human remains were removed from this area so Hearthside Homes can build on the site of a Native American cemetery. It is maddening that the Coastal Act and other laws don't adequately protect sites sacred to Native people. 

You may remember from earlier posts about the 4,400 foot long glass wall surrounding the Brightwater development by Hearthside Homes at Bolsa Chica. The wall is a killer of birds and has been dubbed "The Wall of Death". Now it has been revealed that over 170 ancient human remains have been removed from the site, and while some have been reburied, 87 are stuffed into trailers awaiting re-internment.
Those of us in the Land Trust knew that ORA 83, the archeological site the developer has destroyed had a cemetery within it. However, we did not know the extent of it, nor did the Native American Heritage Commission, until a very late report was sent to them in December by the archeological firm SRS. The firm should have been reporting the discovery of human remains to the commission and the Orange County coroner, but failed to do so.
Huntington Beach Independent columnist Chris Epting has an excellent account of the stonewalling by the developer. You can read it by clicking here. The Orange County Register also has an article about the human remains here.
There is also a front page article in the Independent about the cover up of the human remains here
The Huntington Beach Independent also published an editorial requesting answers from the developer. Check it out here.
Ed Mountford and Hearthside it seems have learned nothing in the years of trying to develop this property. They have what is probably the most valuable piece of land approved for development on the coast in Orange County, but through one mis-step after another have received nothing but negative publicity about the development. One would think they would know the public would be watching since the project was so controversial, and so many of us care so deeply about Bolsa Chica.

Why the Glass Wall at Bolsa Chica Bothers Me So Much

Here are just a few reasons this wall does not belong at Bolsa ChicaPeregrine falcons were removed from the endangered species list in 1999. Their populations are stable to declining around the nation. They are commonly seen in the eucalyptus trees on the mesa.
Kestrels are our smallest falcon and can be commonly seen hunting near the wall.
This Belding's savannah sparrow is an endangered species, and a resident at Bolsa Chica.
Great blue herons nest in the eucalyptus trees on the mesa. Since they will eat anything small enough to swallow, they hunt on the mesa as well as in the wetlands.
White tailed kites roam over the mesa and wetlands in search of food. I saw one perched on the wall eating a mouse the other evening. How long will it be before in pursuit of prey it doesn't see the wall?Black skimmers fly low over the water to hunt and migrate to Bolsa Chica to breed in the summer. This is an elegant tern. Thousands of them nest at Bolsa Chica in the summer. They arrive in April or so and leave in the fall.

Decals Going Up on Wall of Death

This afternoon when Carrie and I were out at the wall we saw a worker applying two decals per pane. The instructions on the packaging for this product suggests one decal for every 3 square feet. Two per pane isn't sufficient. However, by putting them on the wall, Hearthside can claim it is doing something even if it is ineffective.

The only long term solution to this problem is to take the glass wall down.

More Stories on the Glass Wall of Death

The Huntington Beach Independent has a wonderful editorial calling on Hearthside to take down the wall. You can read it here , and columnist Chris Epting again addresses this issue here

Docent training and the wall of death

The new class of docents for the Miracles of the Marsh program sponsored by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust was out at Bolsa Chica today. As part of the tour they walked along the trail by the wall of death. As Marinka Horack and two of the docents were walking along the wall they witnessed a flycatcher hit the wall. Fortunately it was only stunned at not killed. This happened around noon close to the model homes.

I met with Erin Dean today from the USFWS to give her two dead birds collected at the wall. If you see a dead bird along the trail by the glass wall at the Brighwater development, you may collect it if you follow the procedures below.

If you have a camera with you, please take a picture of the bird in place to show where it hit the wall, and include a description of the area if possible. For example how far down the trail or how far from the model homes etc.

If you have a GPS unit, GPS coordinates would be very helpful.

After collecting the bird please call the USFWS enforcement office at 310-328-1516 to report you have the bird. The office will then call me with your contact information. I have a salvage permit and am the drop point in Huntington Beach for the dead birds. I will contact you to pick up the bird you collected.

Early morning at the wall

One would think with all the condensation on the glass this morning, birds would be able to see it. However, as you can see from this picture at least one did have a collision with the wall. The pictures below show that it was near one of the model homes.

Audubon Field Trip to the Wall

There was a nice group of folks this morning on the field trip to the glass wall of death surrounding the Brightwater development. Scott Thomas from Sea and Sage Audubon did a great job of describing the problem and bringing the group up to date.
A member of the press approached me to show him the decals on the windows. As I walked back to the main group after doing so I heard a man on the development side of the wall in a loud voice refer to us as "Wackos". He said something to the effect of "Those wackos are out there again." I didn't recognize his voice, but I would like to say to him-call us what ever you like, but remember many of us are the same "wackos" who cut the size of your development down to 350 houses or so from 4,884. Bolsa Chica means a lot more to us than the dollar signs in your eyes, and we are not going away.

More News Stories

Our local Huntington Beach paper, the Independent has a story on the front page about the wall. You can see it by clicking here

OC Register reporter Annie Burris just posted a new story.

No dead birds this morning when I when out with my friend Carrie, but with all the rain, the birds are probably hunkered down.

Experiment number 2

I was out at the wall early this afternoon and ran into Ed Mountford who was putting up this product on some of the glass panes. He said he ordered enough of the product to put 3 decals on each pane of the 4,400 foot long wall. I hope this helps. I haven't found any dead birds today, so it's been a good day.

AM Reflections

As you can see the reflections in the glass are a problem in the morning too. The reflections are above, and the actual scene is below.

Sunset reflections

I went back this evening to photograph reflections that might occur in the afternoon. Nice sunset behind the trees huh? Only problem is that the birds will think so too, only to run into the glass wall of death.

Experiment number one at Brightwater

I was out at the wall of death this morning and as you can see from the photo below, the "fix" proposed by Ed Mountford may well be a source of additional problems. The mesh over the chain link is now creating reflections of trees in the glass. So now instead of being invisible to the birds it will appear to them as though they are flying toward trees. Great.

I found the feather remains of what I think was a mourning dove by the wall this morning. Someone or something had taken the bird, but there were enough feathers left behind to indicate the bird was there.

Another Brightwater wall of death story

The local paper, The Huntington Beach Independent has an article by columnist Chris epting about the wall. You can see it at this address.

Blightwater

A friend of mine sent me this. I think this is a much more accurate description of the development at Bolsa Chica that "brightwater". After all the glass wall of death is a 4,400 foot long blight on the land at Bolsa Chica.

Update from the Wall of Death on the Hearthside Homes site

Due to all the pressure from the public,press, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, and conservation organizations like the Bolsa Chica Land Trust and the Audubon Society, the developer has put up a chain link fence behind the glass wall with a brown fabric over it. The only problem with this idea is that now the trees reflect into the glass and the birds will think they are flying into trees instead of flying into a glass wall.

Ed Mountford now says they will have a biologist monitor the wall and document the bird deaths. I just got back last night from out of town, and will be going out daily. I found a dead female Anna's Hummingbird a few feet from the wall this morning. She was still warm when I collected her. What were they thinking? Almost a mile of glass next to one of the most important wetland areas in Southern California does this make sense to you?.

There is a story in the Orange County Register here:

and the LA Times here:

The daily Green has an article here:


Dead female Anna's hummingbird found this morning.

Wall of Death on Hearthside Property at Bolsa Chica

This 4,400 foot long glass wall is a killer of birds at Bolsa Chica. Sunday my friend Carrie and I discovered 4 dead birds in one hour while walking along the wall. We also found two stunned birds sitting in the dirt immediately below the wall.



Here are the four birds found on Sunday the 18th of November. They are a male Anna's humming bird, a yellow rumped warbler, a mourning dove, and a female northern harrier.


This is a different view of the dead northern harrier. Such a senseless, unnecessary loss of a beautiful bird.

You can see from this image how close the wall is to habitat which is attractive to birds.

This morning we found this dead meadow lark next to the wall. When Flossie Horgan the Executive Director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust talked to Ed Mountford, a representative of Hearthside Homes and told him what was happening he dismissed her concerns with the comment "Oh they are only sparrows", and went on to say they plan to put something up on the wall that will make it more obvious to the birds, but he didn't know when this would happen. I have four birds in my freezer that prove him wrong. The dead birds are not sparrows, and even if they were sparrows, there are native sparrows that are important members of the natural community at Bolsa Chica. Members of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Sea and Sage Audubon and other organizations have contacted the enforcement officer for the California Coastal Commission, representatives of the California Department of Fish and Game, our and the press. What can be done to prevent more deaths remains to be seen. One thing that really ticks me off is on one hand the developer is using the Bolsa Chica as a selling point to attract buyers, and on the other hand killing the very birds that live there.