into mudflat. The transformation is impacting habitats and species in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve significantly. Species affected include those that are endangered, such as the California least tern, and those that are commercially significant, such as the California halibut. At the same time, sediment carried further down the Bay and out into the ocean has created navigation problems in the Lower Newport Bay, and affected the Marine Life Refuges along the coast.

The problems caused by the sediment led federal and state agencies to classify it as a pollutant and set requirements to reduce the influx into the Bay. One of these requirements is to provide and maintain a capture basin of specified depth at the entry of San Diego Creek. The existing basin was not very efficient in dropping out sediment and it is now full. Consequently for the last several years large amounts of sediment have carried through and deposited further down the Bay at a rate as high as six inches per year in some places in both the Upper and Lower Bay..

The need for a long-term solution was identified in the 1990's, various studies were performed, and alternate designs proposed. The outcome was the $38.5 million UNB Ecosystem Restoration Project ("dredging project") to be funded 65% by the federal government and 35% by local partners.

Although all of the roughly $13.5 million local share of the funds was committed up-front in 2005in 2005, only $11.0 million of the roughly $25 million federal share has been provided so far. Recently, Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressmen John Campbell and Ed Royce were able to secure an additional $2.2 million in the current federal budget to enable the contractor to start on the crucial main part of the project: the widening and deepening of the capture basin at the entry of San Diego Creek to the Bay. However, unless more federal money is authorized by the fall of 2008, the work will have to stop and the contractor will demobilize. Remobilization later will result in substantial additional costs.

Sadly, if this funding does not come through in a timely manner, and the much larger and more efficient capture basin is not dredged to the needed width and depth, much of the restoration performed thus far with the local funds may be in jeopardy. The fact that recent wildfires have ravaged the foothills of the Newport Bay watershed, leaving barren hillsides that are prone to mudslide, compounds this concern. If we have a wet winter in the next several years, a major storm will almost certainly dump a massive amount of sediment into the Bay which will be deposited in the recently-dredged areas downstream of the uncompleted capture basin.

To avoid a costly demobilization this fall two things must happen. First, the federal Army Corps of Engineers needs to allocate sufficient bridge funding this summer to keep the contractor fully mobilized pending approval of the federal October 2008 to September 2009 budget. Secondly, the bulk of the remaining federal commitment needs to be included in the 2008/2009 budget.

The County of Orange, the City of Newport Beach and the other cities in the Newport Bay watershed are working with the local Congressional Delegation to secure final funding for the project. The Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends urges them to take every action to secure this funding now in order to honor the federal government's obligation and avoid unnecessary costly overruns. We encourage others to express strong support for a restoration project that is regionally and nationally important.

Roger Mallett
Newport Bay Naturalists & Friends
Adapted with permission from a recent article in The Daily Pilot

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