|
By David Reyes
Los Angeles Times
August 24, 2005
Orange County supervisors approved a $38-million dredging
project Tuesday that is designed to prevent mud-choked Upper
Newport Bay from turning into a meadow.
The mud flats, fed by sediment that washes into the
ecological reserve, have built up over the years, greatly
reducing the water level.
The water has become so shallow in places that weekend
kayakers and canoeists are limited to paddling a ribbon of
water in the middle of the bay.
The especially wet winter and spring added to the cascade of
silt from San Diego Creek and smaller tributaries that flow
into the upper bay, in Newport Beach.
"This project has to be done to prevent this bay from
becoming a meadow," Larry McKenney, a county watershed
and coastal resources manager, told supervisors.
The mud flats are so expansive that coyotes and other
predators cross the wetlands and prey on birds, including
several endangered species, county officials said.
The 752-acre reserve is one of the largest in the Southland
and is regarded as among the finest bird-watching sites in
North America. During winter migration, as many as 35,000
birds may be in the bay at one time.
The bay is also home to six rare or endangered species: the
light-footed clapper rail, brown pelican, Belding's savannah
sparrow, the black rail, the peregrine falcon and the
California least tern.
Funding for the project, which is expected to begin in early
fall and continue for several months, will be shared by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal
Conservancy and the state Department of Fish and Game.
The project will deepen and expand the sediment basins near
Jamboree Road.
An estimated 2.1 million cubic yards of sediment will be
dredged. In addition, work calls for relocating a tern
island from the upper to the lower basin.
The project will restore the wetlands along Northstar Beach,
Shellmaker Island and a part of the upper basin known as
Bullnose.
|
