Coastal Clean Up Day at Bolsa Chica

Thanks to all who came out today to water and weed out non-native plants. There were so many people we were done in record time!

The Bolsa Chica Project- Video 3

Earth Day at Bolsa Chica

April 18th was a great day for community involvement, and a great day at Bolsa Chica.
Jim Sugra has done yet another great video about Bolsa Chica. Take a look. Are you in the video?

Earth Day Celebration at Bolsa Chica

Wow! We had over 300 volunteers out at Bolsa Chica today to help plant native plants, and participate in a beach clean up.



Thanks so much to everyone who helped at Bolsa Chica this planting season. Believe it or not, we put in 1,000 native plants today alone! It was a warm sunny day, just beautiful!

Bolsa Chica and the heartbreak of ORA-83

Bolsa Chica is home to an archeological site of National significance. Part of it was destroyed by the development of the housing at on the Bolsa Chica Mesa, but part of it can still be saved. Please watch the video to find out more...

The Bolsa Chica Project!

As you may know I am involved with a group called the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. Our goals is the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the entire Bolsa Chica ecosystem. We have a plan to raise 5 million dollars in ONE DAY- EARTH DAY 2009. Check out the video to see how:


Did you like the video? If so sign up at Youtube, and comment on it and rate it! After signing in at Youtube just search "Bolsa Chica Project" to get to the video. You can also subscribe to get updates as there are more videos planned. Please share the video with your friends! This is a great way to spread our message and generate interest in the video.

Bolsa Chica Afternoon and Coastal Clean Up Day is Saturday Sept 20

It's been awhile since I've posted to the blog, so hello again. I was out at Bolsa Chica yesterday afternoon and while most of the terns have gone south, the shorebirds are back from their northern breeding grounds. Pelicans and cormorants were busy fishing, and there were round rays hunting in the mud by the foot bridge.

Next Saturday the Bolsa Chica Land Trust is participating in Coastal Clean up Day at Bolsa Chica State Beach from 8-11 AM. Admission to the beach is free for those coming to help clean the beach, and you are welcome to stay all day. You need to bring shoes, work gloves, a hat and sunscreen. There is also a form to fill out which you can download by clicking here.

Round rays are related to sharks, but have flattened plate like teeth instead of the sharp teeth sharks have. Rays use these teeth to crush the clams, mussels, and other shell fish they prefer as food. 

When you visit the Aquarium of the Pacific be sure to go to the downstairs exhibit about Oceans on the Edge. There is an area where you can touch the round rays, and the success of groups such as the Bolsa Chica Land Trust is celebrated in a display about how Bolsa Chica was saved from the devastation that would have come from the construction of 4,884 houses that at one time were planned for this area. 

Cormorants prefer fish to clams. This one was feeding, successfully as you can see, by the footbridge. 

Least Terns at Bolsa Chica

Friday afternoon I noticed a lot of activity in the nesting area north of the walkbridge. This little fledgling California Least Tern had been picking at debris on the ground, when it suddenly heard the call of one of its parents. It was obviously glad to hear from mom or dad as it was hungry!


Both parents feed the chicks, and the male and female adults look the same. Least terns are the smallest of the terns. The adults weigh around 55 grams. That's as much as 55 paperclips!


After being fed it settled down for a short nap, but flew off a few minutes later.

Disappointment at the California Coastal Commission

I don't remember being more disappointed in a group of public officials as I was at the Coastal Commission yesterday. The hearing I attended was to review the staff findings based on the Commission's actions on the upper Bolsa Chica wetlands area owned by the Shea Co. The purpose of the hearing was for the commissioners who voted in favor of the project in November
( the prevailing side) to confirm the staff had incorporated the commissions changes made at the November meeting. The only thing to be discussed were the changes made in the staff recommendations by the commission members last November.

Included in the staff report in November was a requirement for a 4:1 mitigation for wetland destruction that occurred on the property. The commission in November recognized the existence of a 4 acre wetland on the site. There was no discussion at the November meeting of the mitigation, and the commission did not make any changes to this requirement in November.

However, a 4:1 mitigation for a 4 acre wetland would mean the possibility of a 16 acre mitigation project, perhaps on the site, reducing the area available for the housing project. The representatives of the Shea Co. not only argued that the commission had removed this requirement in November ( in complete disregard for reality) but the commission agreed in a 5-0 vote.

Not only that, but during the hearing on the item, one of Shea's lobbyists handed out a yellow piece of paper to the commissioners with the motions the company wanted, and guess what-Commissioner Secord read motion by motion directly from the paper handed out by Shea's lobbyist.

Things got a little tricky with the last motion which included incorporation of language contained in an addendum handed out by the Shea Co. earlier in the day. The public had not seen this document, so we had no idea of what the last motion actually did. Plus since the document was handed out to the commissioners while they were deliberating on other agenda items, I doubt any of them had time to read the whole thing. Commissoner Wan pointed out inaccuracies in Shea's document she had found in the brief time she had to look over the information, but since she was not on the prevailing side of the vote in November, she could not vote on the motions.

So in essence they were passing motions written by the developer, including language they had not read, which had also been written by the developer. Even this motion passed 3-2.

As a member of the public, and a former Mayor, I was terribly disappointed by the way the majority of the commissioners did the bidding of the developer, and ignored the factual information presented by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust and members of the public.

So is this it? Can nothing be done? Well, in 1996 the Coastal Commissioners did the bidding of the Koll Company on a massive plan for construction at Bolsa Chica that violated the Coastal Act, the very law the Commissioners are supposed to uphold. The Bolsa Chica Land Trust sued, and won. That victory not only protected wetlands, and Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas at Bolsa Chica, but all coastal wetlands in the State. Maybe it's time to remind the commissioners, that as much as they would like to disregard the rules governing coastal development, there are groups out there who will challenge them when they do so!

terns

 Late spring and summer is the time of the terns at Bolsa Chica. The Forster's terns are courting and displaying and the least terns are back from their wintering grounds. 

Last summer I noticed several Forster's terns using the walk bridge railing as a perch from which they could launch themselves into the water after fish rather than hovering in the air. I'm not sure if this bird is one of the individuals I saw last year, but it was using the railing in the same way. This one stood its ground as I walked past it. Is it my imagination, or does it look like it has a bit of an attitude? 

Earthday at Bolsa Chica

Wow! What a crowd! Over 500 people signed in to help clear non-native plants and plant natives on the Bolsa Chica Mesa.

Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook spoke, then the crowd walked along Warner Ave. to the mesa.

We hope that by the fall there will be a walk bridge across the channel so we don't have to risk walking in the bike lane on Warner any longer.

Over 1,000 new native plants were planted by the end of the day. It was a record turn out for participation at Bolsa Chica on Earth Day.

Spring in full swing at Bolsa Chica

California poppies and primroses are in bloom along the dunes. 

The elegant terns are back, and more are arriving each day to court and soon lay eggs and rear young. No least terns sited yet, but I did see three snowy plover nests in the nesting area just north of the footbridge.

The black skimmers have yet to arrive, and while many of the ducks have left, the few ruddy ducks left are indeed ruddy with bright blue bills. Many dowitchers have started their journey to Alaska, and Canada to breed. The ones I saw today were all busy filling up for the long flight in their future.

The bird on the left has already molted into breeding plumage, while the one on the right is still in winter plumage. 

The Bolsa Chica Mesa is in Bloom!

The Coast Sunflower is blooming, purple sage is blooming, monkey flower is blooming, get out there and see for yourself! The Great Blue Herons are not blooming, but they are beginning to nest.

Water Enters Muted Tidal Area at Bolsa Chica

On Wed. March 5th, a floodgate was opened connecting the full tidal basin at Bolsa Chica with an area to the northwest. At higher tides, salt water flushes into the area. Here, Kelly O'Reilly with Cal. Fish and Game learns how to open and close the gate. 
Since the newly flooded area is surrounded by working oil fields, there are features in place to automatically close the gate if oil is detected in the water. One is the sensor you see here. If oil is detected, the gate automatically closes, reducing the amount of oil that could flow into the full tidal basin, and ultimately into the ocean. Also the metal box surrounding the tide gate has two foot openings near the bottom of the box for water to flow in and out of the muted tidal area through the west gate. Oil, being lighter than water will float on the top, and not through the holes at the bottom of the box. 
This is the gate on the full tidal basin side. Since the tide was so low when the gates were opened, no water moved into the muted tidal area. However at high tide water will flow until the tide rises high enough to cause the red floats near the top of the gate to move and close the gate. 

This photo was taken just after high tide Thursday morning, and you can see water has moved into the area behind the gate.

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.

Ruffled Feathers at Bolsa Chica

These snowy egrets are having a bad plume day as the wind blows their feathers around. Snowy egrets are easily confused with cattle egrets, but the snowys have "golden slippers". Their feet are bright yellow, and their beaks are black. Cattle egrets have yellow beaks.

Flowers and Others on the Bolsa Chica Mesa

It was a beautiful morning out at Bolsa Chica, although now it is windy, cold, and rainy.The coast sunflower is in full bloom
Red Monkey Flower
Bladderpod with a pollinatorWhy the plant is called "Bladderpod"
I just can't resist photographing this male Anna's hummingbird

Rain

We have had a few cloudy and rainy days here lately. While this is great for our native plants, and will help produce what I hope will be a great wildflower season in the deserts later this spring, it does not make for great conditions for photography. Last year here in Southern California we only received around 3 inches of rain during our rainy season which is from November to April. Our native plants have a whole host of stratiges to survive our dry season which typically lasts from May to November. One of them is to go dormant. In the summer our hills turn brown, and the plant look dead, but many are just resting and waiting out the dry season. Our plants suffered during the year of little rain, and many of them never broke dormancy during the winter.This photo was taken in March of last year. The plants you see to the left should have been in full bloom, but with no rain they couldn't make enough food to produce flowers so they continued to rest through the spring. If it stops raining soon, I will go out today and take a photo in the same spot so you can see the difference a normal amount of rainfall can make.

Because of the rain showers this year, the plants on the Bolsa Chica mesa have broken dormancy, are greening up, and many are in flower. The coast sunflower Encelia has burst into bloom making the mesa point brilliant yellow. Bladderpod, monkey flower and buckwheat are also blooming.
Birding in a sea of blooming coast sunflower on the Bolsa Chica Mesa.

Brown Pelican May Come off Endangered Species List

The Department of Interior is considering removing brown pelican from endangered species list.Brown pelicans were placed on the endangered species list about 40 years ago because their population crashed due to DDT poisoning. DDT is metabolized in birds into a compound known as DDE. DDT and DDE are fat-soluble and large amounts would be deposited in eggs, and the fatty tissues of the birds.

Pelicans and other birds like the bald eagle, and peregrine falcon are at, or near the top of their food webs. DDT, because it is fat soluble, and is stored in the fat of animals “bio magnifies” as it moves up the food chain. In other words as these birds near the top of the food chain consume their prey they also consume the DDT stored in the fatty tissues of their prey. Their prey in turn store the DDT consumed in their food. DDT caused the eggshells of these birds to become so thin that when the adults sat on the eggs to incubate them, the eggs were crushed. Brown pelicans in California nest on the channel islands, including Anacapa and Santa Barbara. Despite thousands of birds laying eggs, in some years no chicks at all survived.

In 1972 DDT was banned in the US. Since then there has been a gradual recovery in the numbers of pelicans and peregrine falcons. The peregrine was removed from the endangered species list in 1999. The bald eagles, which used to nest on Catalina have not done as well. There are still high concentrations of DDT in some fish and birds in this area due to the massive dumping of wastes full of DDT into the waters off San Pedro by the Montrose Chemical Company.
There are estimates of as many as 600,000 brown pelicans through out the US currently. The birds also are found off the Gulf Coast and nest on low-lying islands off the coast of Louisiana. However, these islands are vulnerable to damage from coastal storms, and inundation due to the rise in sea level.

During the winter and spring brown pelicans can commonly be seen at Bolsa Chica here in Huntington Beach.