The grant from the State Coastal Conservancy will fund the restoration of more than half the site and increase public access.
Following a decade of advocacy and planning, the Los Cerritos Wetland Authority (LCWA) received a grant of $32 million to finally begin restoring the natural environment.
The grant will go toward the Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration Project, focusing on 103 acres spanning through Long Beach and Orange County which has largely gone underappreciated and until recently, unfunded.
“It’s very happy news, and good news on the environment is not as common as I wish it would be,” said Elizabeth Lambe, executive director of the LCWA.
The Los Cerritos Wetlands Complex makes up 500 acres, which is all that remains of the 2,400-acre historic wetland system that used to go through parts of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel River and Orange County. Most of the land has been lost to housing and commercial developments, oil drilling and public infrastructures.
The LCWA has been advocating for the protection of the land since 2011, speaking out against proposed developments surrounding the site and asking federal and local governments to reclaim the land from private ownership.
The organization now runs the government-owned portion of the wetlands, and Lambe said the other 400 acres are “on track” to be moved back into public ownership. When Lambe started working with the LCWA, all of the land was still privately owned, and she said through hosting community events, nature walks and field trips, she’s seen firsthand how much public interest has grown in the wetlands.
“At first, not everybody felt this way. Everyone was like, ‘It’s just a bunch of weeds’ … so I’m pretty proud of facilitating public access to the land,” Lambe said. “John Muir had this theory that if you take people out into the land, they will feel inspired to save it, so that was our theory.”
While Long Beach has been updating its zoning codes throughout the city to increase mixed-use development, the LCWA has been focused on protecting the wetlands and the habitats that thrive in the area. Some of the species in the wetlands include Belding’s Savannah sparrow, California least tern, Loggerhead shrike, Western snowy plover, California gull, Cooper’s hawk and more.
Phase one of the project will focus on the restoration of 54 acres through remediating contaminated soils, filling in areas to restore its original level of wetlands elevation, placing natural vegetation native to the wetlands and uplands and constructing flood management facilities.
The restoration takes into account the rising sea levels projected for the area, and includes plans to restore the degraded uplands and tidal salt marshes to create a more resilient coast in the face of climate change. Part of those efforts means redesigning the marshes so they grow up-slope as sea levels rise.
The first phase will also prioritize increasing public access to the wetlands, as people currently can only visit the wetlands through the free community events and nature walks hosted by Los Cerritos Wetlands twice a month.
“Since it’s state funding we’re obligated to provide a resource to people, but it has to be done responsibly,” said Eric Zahn with Tidal Influence, the consulting group for LCWA. “We’re going to perpetuate access along the trails already there. We don’t want to add new public access that may conflict with sensitive areas.”
Public access improvements will include interpretive signage, a formal gathering site for people with shade and seating and connecting already existing trails to one another. Another aspect of public access will include tribal access and co-management for spaces of the Gabrielino/Tongva and Acjachemen tribes.
The original inhabitants of this land are the leading constituents so we’ve been working closely with our tribal advisory group to make sure the plan fits their vision,” Zahn said, adding that it may include private entries to select parts of the wetlands. “We want it to be a generational thing where tribal groups can have access to exclusive areas for exclusive purposes.”
Zahn said that Tidal Influence and the LCWA are working to provide this access now, so tribal groups don’t have to wait until the restoration efforts are complete in order to use the land.
Phase two of the restoration will work on expanding the wetlands by creating a tidal connection to the Haynes Cooling Channel. California has mandated the phasing out of once-through cooling, which means in a few years the Haynes Cooling Channel will be available for tidal connections.
Planning and permitting for the phases are expected to be complete by 2025, when phase one can begin. It’s unclear when phase two will begin, as Zahn said he expects it will require more funding to expand the wetlands.
