Marshlands plan sounds all wet

Regarding the July 14 column “Three good projects in development” by

Vic Leipzig & Lou Murray:

It was claimed that the reflooding with ocean water of the

long-lost salt marshes fronting Pacific Coast Highway -- from the

Santa Ana River to the AES plant (and even to Beach Blvd?) -- will

not create new breeding grounds for mosquitoes. This claim was based

upon the truth that West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitoes do not

normally breed in well-flowing water, or in healthy wetlands.

However, restoring a long-lost wetlands to healthy, well-flowing

wetlands -- with a diversity of species tha could control mosquitoes

and support healthy marine life -- is not only a very new science,

but a science with no certainty whatsoever as to the final outcome.

The results -- good or bad -- may not be known for decades.

The proponents of this restoration plan also intend to dredge the

current ocean inlet supplying the Talbert marsh (and dredge the

constantly shoaling Talbert marsh itself) to attempt to be able to

feed the entire acreage of the Brookhurst/Magnolia wetlands project,

as wetland supporters’ own Mofatt & Nichol study concluded that the

Talbert inlet and marsh are both very prone to shoaling (many native

plants are now covered by sand). Apparently, the inlet can barely

support the tiny acreage of the current Talbert marsh. I can only

imagine that this would mean annual and expensive dredging would have

to occur (at taxpayer’s expense) or the Brookhurst/Magnolia lots

would eventually be starved-off from well-flowing and cleansing ocean

water, which is required to keep a wetlands healthy and less prone to

produce disease-carrying mosquitoes.

A previous study, headed by Dr. Stanley Grant of UC Irvine

(https://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2001/0 5/010529235649.htm),

has also pegged the Talbert marsh as a likely culprit in our past

beach contamination issues by too-quickly flushing avian-produced

fecal bacterial from the marsh. But some of our local bird/wetlands

enthusiasts prefer to point to the Orange County Sanitation District

sewage plume as the culprit, when in fact it has been virtually

eliminated as a source of our beach contamination issues after

extensive experiments and studies by the U.S. Geologicla Survey

(https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003 /of03-62/conclusions.html). It appears

that blaming the sanitation district plume for our past beach

contamination issues, when no study has shown it to be the cause in

any manner whatsoever, is simply a red herring to divert attention

away from the peer-reviewed UCI study that does show salt marshes as

a source of beach contamination.

So here we are, with the Bolsa Chica Inlet/outlet being dug as we

speak. There are plans to vent the Brookhurst and Magnolia lots to

the ocean via the tiny Talbert inlet. There is a study that points to

in-process/degraded wetlands as a very likely source of our beach

contamination issues. And we’re fighting over a cheesy logo to

represent “Surf City”?

All I can say is: God help the surfers and swimmers -- and our

city’s coffer -- once these “three good projects” are complete, and I

sure hope that those “eco-tourists”who -- Leipzig & Murray

enthusiastically claim will be flocking here -- can fill more than

that tiny parking lot at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, when our

reputation as a safe and popular beach/surfing destination is

stained, once again, by their “guano.”

* Tom Polkow is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off” e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at

(714) 966-4667.