Restoration Project

To see photos of each phase of the restoration construction, view the construction gallery.

To view a map of the major physical features of the restoration design, view this map (864kb pdf).

To view a post-restoration photo with these physical features labeled, view this map (386kb pdf).

Permits and environmental documents

Links to videos of the construction made by Jack Fancher, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (videos will open in Windows Media Player):

Bolsa Chica Lowlands Restoration Project Begins- Fall 2004 Project overview prior to construction (3:52)

Bolsa Chica Lowlands Restoration: Pacific Coast Highway Detour- January 2005 Detour of PCH to allow for the construction of the new bridge over the soon to be created Full Tidal Basin (6:30)

Bolsa Chica Lowlands Restoration: Earthmoving 2005 Includes footage of contaminant removal, levee construction, and the record rainfall of 2005 (11:18).

An excellent description of the entire restoration project including a movie of photos is available at the Amigos de Bolsa Chica Website. link to flash movie

Description of Main Project Elements

The Bolsa Chica Lowlands Restoration Project is in Orange County, California, adjacent to the City of Huntington Beach. The purpose of the project was to restore portions of the wetland ecosystem of the Bolsa Chica Lowlands. The project area covers about 1,247 acres and restored tidal influence from the Pacific Ocean to about half of the area to reinvigorate the wetland ecosystem.

To create the Full Tidal Basin, approximately 1.57 million m³ of material (mostly clean sand) were excavated from a 366-acre area within the Bolsa Chica Lowlands to create a basin of a general depth of -1m NAVD, bounded by intertidal flats (link to video of modeled tide cycle). The excavated sand was distributed on the adjacent beaches from March to June 2006 (102,500 m³, divided evenly to the north and south of the future inlet), as well as placed offshore from November 2005 to May 2006 to form an ebb bar (929,326 m³) outside of the future inlet.  Approximately 531,354 m³ of material was placed to form the basin levees and three nesting areas. Remaining material was hauled off-site. Jetties were constructed to form the ocean inlet to the basin from March through June of 2006.  link to video of inlet excavation and jetty construction

The Full Tidal Basin was opened to the ocean on August 24, 2006. The basin was designed to support approximately 175.5 acres of non-wetland waters, 122.6 acres of tidal flats, and 19.1 acres of pickleweed. In order to keep the basin inlet open, maintenance dredging is anticipated to be needed on a biennial basis, with dredged sand to be placed on down-coast beaches. The first maintenance dredging event was completed during the winter of 2008/2009.

click here to see a post-restoration project map

An approximately 200-acre area of Muted Tidal Basins was connected to the Full Tidal Basin via box culverts and weirs through the levee. The boxed culverts include water control structures to allow regular but muted tidal influence from the Full Tidal Basin in to three Muted Tidal Basins, to eventually support  approximately 126.3 acres of salt marsh habitat, and create 42.3 acres of tidal flats, 30.5 acres of cordgrass habitat, and 1.4 acres of non-wetland waters.

Muted Pocket Marsh

This 42-acre parcel on the north side of the East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Flood Control Channel was previously hydrologically-isolated. As part of the restoration, a hydrologic connection was made to Outer Bolsa Bay, adjacent to the tide gates at the mouth of the Flood Control Channel. The Pocket Marsh now receives muted tidal influence from Outer Bolsa Bay, which is linked to Huntington Harbour, not the Full Tidal Basin.

Approximately 20 acres of nesting area were created at three sites within the restoration area: one in the Full Tidal Basin, one in the Muted Tidal Basin, and one in the existing Seasonal Ponds. The nesting sites are used by endangered species, including the western snowy plover and California least tern, as well as a variety of other nesting tern species.  Link to western snowy plover nesting reports.

An approximately 10,000-ft long barrier was constructed to prevent groundwater and salinity intrusion into the adjacent neighborhoods. The salinity intrusion barrier was placed as deep as 30 feet. A French drain to control shallow groundwater levels was placed as deep as 10 feet, with a pump station installed to discharge collected water into the muted tidal basin.

Restoration Project Permits, Monitoring Programs, and Environmental Documents

   Clean Water Act Section 404 permit (831KB pdf)

   Coastal Act Consistency Determination (7.9MB pdf)

   Beach Monitoring Plan (761KB pdf)

   Biological Monitoring Plan (86KB pdf)

   Restoration Project Bacterial Modeling Report (330KB pdf)

   Fieldstone Restoration Plans- April 2005 (1.3MB pdf)

   Full Tidal Area Contaminants Cleanup Plan (5.1MB pdf)

   Restoration Project Ecological Risk Assessment link to page