Update: Hellman wetlands purchase in 'negotations'

Out of a thick field of invasive bushes and dried up salt patches, ocean currents might flow and green reeds might flourish someday.
At least that's what government officials, property owners and residents hope to accomplish if a multi-layered purchase of several hundred acres of the degraded Los Cerritos Wetlands goes through.
The wetlands, encompassing three properties, takes up a portion of Long Beach and Seal Beach, surrounding the San Gabriel River flood channel that borders Los Angeles and Orange counties.
For decades, the land has stood with a few oil wells and mostly vacant territory, scattered with animals, birds and vegetation.
But several anticipated land acquisitions could change all that.
Last week, the City of Long Beach announced a deal that could move a portion of wetlands into public domain, according to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, a joint powers agreement, adopted among several agencies and cities to purchase and protect the land.
The agency is made up of the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, State Coastal Conservancy and cities of Long Beach and Seal Beach.
The deal would include Long Beach swapping city properties for the 175 acre piece of land formerly owned by the Bixby Company, now owned by developer Tom Dean, the authority states.
In return for the sale, the property owner would be able to purchase the city's public service yard on San Francisco Street, Long Beach Gas and Oil’s headquarters on Spring Street and Junipero, 29.5 acres of frontage on Spring Street, a location formerly known as the “Sports Park” and now designated the “Hilltop Property," and two other small parcels—one at Spring and Atlantic and one at Cherry and Creston.
“City Hall would sell the wetlands property to the LCWA for a sum currently estimated at $25 million,” the authority states.
City management plans to use the money from that sale to support efforts to acquire, restore and develop the 19-acre Wrigley Heights "oil operators" property as open space and develop 18 acres of open space at the “Hilltop Property.”
However, the purchase might not only just pertain to land in Long Beach, but could also open up the purchasing power for the rest of the wetlands, a majority that now sits in Seal Beach.
The wetlands is currently split up into three properties: the Hellman Ranch property, which is about 100 acres that leads up to Gum Grove Park below Marina Hill in Seal Beach, the Bixby property along Pacific Coast Highway past the overpass in Long Beach and the Bryant property which consists of 166 acres in both cities.
Only after purchasing all of the land would a full restoration begin to take hold, something some say would be similar to Bolsa Chica's restoration project and ocean inlet that has brought flocks of migratory birds back to their nesting places.
"We want to reintroduce the area as a salt-water marsh, by introducing a tidal flush," said Suzanne Frick, Long Beach assistant city manager. "It's what it's going to be like in the future. If in fact the land swap goes into affect, all three of those properties would be purchased and restored."
She said right now, both the Hellman and Bryant properties are closed off to the ocean waters, while the Bixby site has limited water flush.
Frick, city planners and residents gathered for a workshop session on the matter this Tuesday at Long Beach City Hall. Frick said the LCWA is in negotiations to purchase the Hellman property, but didn't know how much for.
Although it is unknown how much the Hellman property in Seal Beach is up for, the LCWA has secured a few potential funding sources to pay for all three sections of land from coastal conservancy funds and park grant bond dollars.
"I'm fairly confident they can come up with the money to purchase the land," Frick said.
The next step would be for the LCWA to start moving forward with comprehensive plans for the restoration project, which could take years to accomplish after public hearings on the matter.
Seal Beach City Councilman Gordon Shanks said he has been following the Hellman property for about 40 years, and abstained from being on the LCWA since his home currently sits directly above the wetlands.
He said the property has been a point of contention in the city, after controversy arose over Heron Point homes being put in on the edge of the land facing Seal Beach Boulevard. Although much of the acres have been degraded, he said, he looks forward to seeing the restoration process.
"It’s going to be difficult to get it back to wetlands," he said. "But there are a lot of animals and birds that live there."
Greg Cook, of Lakewood, often walks with his dog Howie down to Gum Grove Park, a hidden trail of red gum eucalyptus trees and vegetation, he didn't even know existed until about a year ago.
As a bird watcher, he said bringing the land back to its natural habitat would also bring back migratory birds that once used to flourish.
“I think it would be absolutely tremendous,” he said. “ This is such an important part of nature for migratory birds. It would be a great thing.”

State restores water quality monitoring funds

As the state moves forward with a near-record budget deficit, the California State Water Resources Control Board unanimously voted Nov. 4 to make sure water quality monitoring at the state's beaches won't disappear.
The board assured that the state will provide "restored funding for beach water quality monitoring at 15 coastal counties throughout the state through the end of the year," according to an announcement by Heal the Bay.
"In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used a line-item veto to ax near $1 million in funding for this critical program.
Heal the Bay applauds the board's decision to fund testing that is critical for protecting the public health of ocean users throughout the state. Funds will be re-appropriated from grant program funds derived from the Clean Beaches Initiative, which voters approved in 2000. The board has the option to extend the agreement for another year.
According to Heal the Bay's end of summer report card, about 91 percent of the 514 beaches monitored statewide this summer received A or B grades, which indicated excellent or very good water quality. Those grades are essentially the same as last year when 92 percent of sites got good grades.
Two years of drought conditions contributed to the positive results statewide, because the dry conditions limited the amount of urban runoff, the biggest source of pollution, according to the group. Also, infrastructure enhancements also played a part, funded by the state's $100 million Clean Beach Initiative, to improve grades at beaches.
Los Angeles County still leads the state for bad grades, with nearly one out of five beaches tracked in the county receiving F grades, 21 out of 109 sites monitored this summer.
Despite some modest improvements, Long Beach still suffers the worst water quality in the state, largely because it sits at the terminus of the contaminant-plagued Los Angeles River. With nearly half of its 25 monitored beaches receiving C to F grades, the city of Long Beach has undertaken proactive source tracking and abatement measures.

Los Cerritos Wetlands land swap for $25 million

The City of Long Beach is getting close to saving the Los Cerritos Wetlands— a proposed land swap that has been in the works for months, aimed at making sure wetlands stay wetlands.
If done correctly, the proposed 190-acres of somewhat environmentally protected land could be restored after years of oil dredging and land development threats.
But don't count your acres before they're hatched.
The Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority still has to come up with $25 million to purchase the land along with millions more for any restoration that would take place. How the public agency is going to do that is unknown right now.
Before any restoration moves forward, the city has to sort out a "complex" land swap with the current land owner, Los Cerritos Inc., which is headed by investors Tom Dean and Jim Berger, according to Press Telegram's report as well as the District Weekly, which first broke the story.
Basically, in return for the 66-acre Bryant property and the 174-acre Hellman property, the land owners will be able to develop a portion of what was originally going to be a $50 million Sports Park at Spring Street and Cherry Avenue,... so the wetlands will have its costs. City officials say the deal was made after plans for building the extensive recreational park went sour amidst economic hardships.
Once the deal is made final, the wetlands acres will then be bought by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, a public agency, designating the land for restoration, with government officials by their side.
During a press conference this Wednesday, city officials said protecting the land will by the most extensive "wetlands" restoration for the city of Long Beach, envisioned as a "jewel," similar to nearby Bolsa Chica's efforts.

Baby hammerheads hanging around Cat Harbor

A few baby hammerheads have lately been found hanging around Cat Harbor, the foggy less-visited version of Two Harbors on the backside of Santa Catalina Island.
The baby hammerhead sharks were found mulling about in the last two weeks, among the shallow waters of the rocky backside, where a few much more dangerous sharks such as Great Whites have been spotted in the past. Some spots on the backside are also ripe with rocky reefs for wave riding.
Doug Oudin, the Isthmus' harbor master, wrote in a column for the Catalina Islander newspaper, that there are about 15 to 20 of the sharks found, some caught on fishing lines in the waters near the mud flats.
The hammerheads average less than two feet in length, he said, and were born sometime in the later summer, and are still "hanging around" in Cat Harbor to feed on the shoals of anchovies and sardines in the cove. The sharks are known to inhabit cooler waters.
He said there were no reports of mature hammerheads in the cove, as mother sharks are known to give birth and then abandon their young.
Most hammerhead species are fairly small and are considered harmless to humans. However, the great hammerhead's enormous size and fierceness make it potentially dangerous, though few attacks have been recorded.