A new study offers a blueprint to preserving estuary and protecting neighboring homes from flooding.
Sea-level rise could wipe out precious habitat at Huntington Beach’s Bolsa Chica wetlands and eventually flood neighborhoods just east of the ecological reserve, according to aBut ongoing estuary maintenance and continued improvements — including new levees and elevating some existing wetlands — would preserve and improve existing wildlife ecosystems. Such work also would bolster the buffer that the wetlands provide for adjacent homes against rising seas, the study found.
A Golden Eagle flies over the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. An osprey takes flight from a branch of a dead tree at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach just after sunrise on Wednesday, October 14, 2020. Kim Kolpin, the executive director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, stands on a walkway at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. Photographer Rebecca Highley May interpreted the affection shared by these coyotes at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve as romance.
Southern California has lost 62% of its wetlands since the 19th century, with the Orange-Los Angeles county region losing more than 90% — mostly to development and urbanization. “Bolsa Chica acts as a giant sponge,” said Kim Kolpin, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. “How good a job we do will determine its resiliency. A healthy wetlands means a healthy barrier from sea-level rise.”
Probably the first significant human impact on the Bolsa Chica wetlands came with the establishment of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club in 1899, which included a two-story building and damming of a portion of the wetlands to facilitate duck hunting. “Throughout most of recorded world history, wetlands were regarded as wastelands and problem areas to be drained and filled,” said the 2018 report“ a shift in the understanding and appreciation for these habitats has occurred, and wetlands are now valued worldwide for the many benefits they provide.”
Those sandy islands — vital for the endangered least tern — and wetlands areas popular with other shorebirds are among Bolsa Chica habitat in most immediate jeopardy from sea-level rise. The new study, completed by the environmental engineering firm Anchor QEA, examines current and future challenges — and viable solutions — for the reserve.
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