Dear Erin,

Spring is around the corner, but you wouldn't know it with the last week of Feb. being, brrrr, so cold (ok, by Huntington Beach standards)! But the rain was nice. Anyway, after 3 years in the making and a lot of long meetings with the Bolsa Chica Steering Committee, we are happy to announce the release of the Sustainable Alternatives Study for the lowland wetland system! Read more about it below. Also, our on-site community-based habitat restoration volunteering is back in full swing. Just in time for the wildflowers.

If you like our e-newsletters please consider sharing it with your friends and family. You can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook to catch our weekly "Notes from the Mesa" and "Wildlife Wednesdays" as we share with you what we see and find every week!

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust is pleased to announce the release of the Sustainable

Alternatives Study for the lowland wetland system at the Bolsa Chica Ecological

Reserve. Prepared by Anchor QEA and three years in the making, the study outlines

goals and alternative methods for the short-term, mid-range and long-term

management of this environmentally critical site, and it assesses potential effects of

sea-level rise on the system. Whereas high-quality habitat has been achieved within

the Full Tidal Basin, the establishment of salt marsh in other areas of the system

have been a challenge to achieve.

Although it was hoped that the study would identify simple and direct measures that

could be undertaken immediately to relieve the lowland’s management challenges, this

exhaustive review found that in the short term, the best option is to continue both the

maintenance dredging the of the full tidal basin and the current water management plan

for the muted tidal basin. With that, however, several exciting mid-term and long-term

options have been identified for different parts of the system, which if implemented

would achieve many of the desired goals for the restoration and ongoing maintenance

of these wetlands. The Bolsa Chica Land Trust is committed to supporting the State

Lands Commission and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in pursuing

these mid-term and long-term options for sustainably managing this part of the Bolsa

Chica Ecological Reserve and increasing the biodiversity and resilience of its critical

wetland habitats.

This project was paid for by a Proposition 1 grant from the California Department of

Fish and Wildlife and undertaken in partnership with the state and federal agencies that

make up the Bolsa Chica Steering Committee.

The Land Trust welcomes the public to review the Sustainable Alternatives Study on

our website at www.BCLandTrust.org. Please contact BCLT Executive Director Kim

Kolpin at Kim@bclandtrust.org or (714) 846-1001 with any questions.

After a brief hiatus to let Omicron settle down, we are back in action! And just in time for the wildflowers to start really bursting in bloom. Right now is the best time to volunteer not only because you get to work amongst the flowers, but also because it's planting season! We can even sign off on volunteer hours for school etc.

We are still requiring volunteers to sign up in advance so please sign up before the events fill up. Our next volunteer days are Sun. Mar. 6th and Sat. Mar. 19th from 9am-noon. Email Beverley at Beverley@BCLandTrust.org for more details

March Bird of the Month: Elegant Terns

Bolsa Chica is famous for the thousands of migrating terns that arrive for nesting season in March. The “kee-rick” sounds of Elegant Tern calls fill the air from March through early August, as the birds settle in, nest, care for their chicks, then prepare to migrate. Elegant Terns winter on the Pacific coast of South America. At Bolsa Chica four other species of terns join the medium-sized Elegants: the endangered Least Terns (9” long), Forster’s Terns (14.5” long), Royal Terns (20” long), and Caspian Terns (21” long). Terns hunt for fish by plunge diving dramatically for fish from the sky into Bolsa Bay.

17” long; 34” wingspan; 9 oz

photo: Carl Jackson

Reminders When You Visit Bolsa Chica

Here are some things to remember during your visit:

• Please stay on the trails. Not only could you disturb nesting birds, but snakes are often not far off the trails.
• Enjoy the flowers, but please do not pick them.
• Do not feed the animals.
• Do not litter. Please pack out your trash, including food scraps.
• No bikes.
• No dogs.
• No drones.
• Enjoy being with nature!
• If you see any BCLT Stewards working along the trail, say hi! We are happy to answer any questions.

Support Bolsa Chica Today!

Photo Credits:

banner- Luis Pita Alum, volunteers- Ian Hansen, Elegant Terns- Carl Jackson, wetland landscapes, PCH trail, bridge, research tools- E. Chin, Stewards- James Huang, Miracle docent with kids, Elegant Terns on beach- Marinka Horack