From the OC Register Green Blog - click here to see full article with photos and diagrams.

Levee breached in Huntington Beach
February 25th, 2010, 1:46 pm ·  posted by Pat Brennan, green living, environment editor

News cameras whirred as construction workers removed a large chunk of an earthen levee separating the Magnolia wetland in Huntington Beach from a flood-control channel — restoring a connection to the ocean for the first time in 100 years.

The construction crew actually had been whittling down the top of the levee for the last two weeks, said Gordon Smith, chairman of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy.

So water was already flowing between the channel and the wetland as the earth movers went to work on the last pieces of the levee Friday.

The channel connects to the ocean, so as the tide rises during the course of the day the wetland, newly restored with $3.3 million in federal stimulus funding, will see its water level rise. Peeking above the water at high tide will be nesting islands for the Belding’s savannah sparrow.

It is the last of three wetlands along the channel that have been restored since 1989, creating marshes with full-strength ocean tides that should summon a variety of native plants and animals absent since the wetlands were cut off from the ocean a century ago.

“I’ve been working at this for over 25 years,” Smith said Friday as he looked on. “This is a really exciting milestone for us.”

The Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also showed off their new visitor center to reporters. The center should be open to the public in time for an April 17 grand opening of the newly restored Magnolia marsh — one of three marshes along the flood control channel restored in recent years.

Register photo of Magnolia marsh at restoration kickoff event in June, 2009, by Mark Rightmire.
Chattering birds and other wildlife should reclaim the 41-acre Magnolia marsh as their own in the months and years to come. Some have already explored their new marsh.

“It’s really exciting to see how quickly these wetlands are returning to their natural function,” Smith said. “It has a big impact on the coastal environment.”

The restoration took six months of work by contractors for the Conservancy, which owns the parcel and partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the project.

Meandering channels — filled in and flattened by a century of dryness — were scooped out, contaminants were removed and 40,000 cubic yards of dirt were hauled away; replanting of wetland plants will follow.

But most of the restoration work will be done by the ocean itself. The twice-daily flux of tides should stimulate the growth of eel grass, cord grass and other wetland plants, create a nursery for halibut and other fish species, and attract an array of birds drawn to tidal marshes — perhaps one day including the endangered light-fo0ted clapper rail.

The Conservancy is planning a public grand-opening April 17. A public observation deck should be set up for visitors to view the wetland, and the Conservancy plans to offer boat tours, hikes on portions of a trail around the perimeter of the wetland, and an interpretive center with an underwater “fish cam.”

The newly restored Magnolia marsh completes a three-marsh network along the flood channel that has been years in the making. The first to be restored was the 25-acre Talbert marsh, near the Santa Ana River, in 1989; the 65-acre Brookhurst marsh was finished last year, and is already filling with birds and fish.

“Somehow, fish and animals seem to sense when there’s a wetland,” Smith said. “We’re already seeing baby halibut, and various fish, using the Brookhurst marsh.”