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FEDERAL, STATE RESOURCE AGENCIES FINALIZE AGREEMENT TO PRESERVE AND RESTORE BOLSA CHICA WETLANDS

Release Date: 2/11/1997
Contact Information: (DOI) Stephanie Hanna, (2/11 only): 310/493-7501, (after 2/11): 202/208-6416, Dave Schmidt, U.S. EPA (415) 744-1578

Final purchase recommendation brought to State Lands Commission for vote Feb. 12

     (Huntington Beach) -- Federal, State, and local officials joined with representatives of oil companies and environmental groups to announce the signing of an agreement to restore and permanently preserve the Bolsa Chica wetlands near Huntington Beach, thus resolving a 20-year controversy over the wetlands' future.  

     George T. Frampton, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, joined Douglas P. Wheeler, Secretary of Resources for the State of California,  representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and other private and public partners to announce the agreement among resource agencies to publicly acquire 880 acres of the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Orange County.

     The 880 acres affected by today's agreement will be combined with the existing Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve, for a total area of 1200 acres, the third largest coastal wetland in Southern California.

     "This is truly one of the last undeveloped coastal wetlands of any significant size in Southern California, an area that is under the greatest development pressure of anywhere in the nation," Frampton said.  "I am enormously gratified that we have been able to forge a productive partnership with other federal, state and private cooperators to save it.  When it is fully restored, this unique place will be a legacy to the citizens of California.  At the same time, the last undeveloped wetlands on this coast are critical to the survival of fish, waterfowl and migratory bird populations, including threatened and endangered species, that depend on the Bolsa Chica tidal lowlands for vital habitat."

     "Everyone involved should be congratulated for turning a seemingly eternal discussion about possibilities into a real action plan to preserve a precious place," said Felicia Marcus, Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA.  "The Bolsa Chica agreement is the result of unlikely partners inside and outside of government focussing on making something good happen."

     The lands would be acquired by the California State Lands Commission, which must approve the purchase decision and recommendations of the resources agencies.  The Commission is scheduled to vote on this matter on Wednesday, February 12, at a meeting in Huntington Beach.  The Bolsa Chica lowlands would be publicly managed as wetland habitat for a wide variety of fish, migratory bird and other wildlife and aquatic species.

     The Bolsa Chica lowlands are located in Huntington Beach, California, and have been the focus of long-standing struggles and controversy between development and conservation interests; and an environmental priority for a number of federal and state agencies and  conservation groups.  Since 1994, federal, state and local governments have been aggressively working with the private owner, Koll Real Estate Group, on options to protect the wetlands from development.  Today's agreement represents an extremely complex negotiated settlement which will include the acquisition, clean-up and restoration of the wetlands to full-tidal water-flows.  Taxpayers would incur almost no costs from the purchase and no costs from restoration or clean-up of contaminants.  These wetlands have been impacted by oil production since the 1940s.

     The terms of the agreement, laid out in greater detail in an attachment, will be
presented to the State Lands Commission as follows: The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will pay about $79 million for the purchase and restoration of 880 acres of Bolsa Chica Lowland owned by Koll Real Estate Group (KREG), with an additional $1.5 million being provided by the California Coastal Conservancy towards the purchase.  This acreage is contiguous to a 306-acre ecological reserve already property of the State Lands Commission, and 24.5 acres that will be donated by the Metropolitan Water District/Bolsa Chica Land Trust, for a total wetland habitat of over 1200 acres.

     Funding provided by the ports will also be used to construct an ocean inlet channel and deep water basin for restoration of a portion of the wetlands ecosystem to full tidal condition.  Development of these restoration features will be overseen by the eight federal and state agencies that have worked together to make the Bolsa Chica acquisition possible.  CalResources LLC, the present lease-holder and oil production operator, and KREG will provide funding for all costs related to clean-up of contamination on the KREG property, after working out a separate agreement with Phillips Petroleum, the previous oil field operator.  The clean-up of contaminants will be under the supervision of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
     
     In a separate but related agreement, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will secure approximately 530 acres of compensatory mitigation credits for planned expansion of the two ports.  The purchase of Bolsa Chica wetlands as mitigation for expansion of the ports will contribute to Southern California's economic vitality in the 21st century while simultaneously preserving and restoring vital wildlife habitat.

     In addition to the agencies already mentioned, other state, local and private entities thathave played a part in reaching today's agreement include: the California Coastal Comission, the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Coastal Conservancy, the government of Orange County; the City of Huntington Beach; and environmental groups Amigos de Bolsa Chica, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, and American Oceans Campaign.

     "The federal agencies are especially grateful to the State Lands Commission, particularly Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, State Controller Kathleen Connell and Executive Director Bob Hight, and to Secretary of Resources Doug Wheeler and their able staffs for their key roles in bringing this complex process to closure.  Without their support, the good news we announce today simply could not have happenned," George Frampton said.  "Working together, we are saving an opportunity for future generations to view one of the last remaining pockets of southern California's rich and diverse biological heritage before it vanishes from the coastal landscape."