Restoration Projects

Restoration Projects
	Overview
	Dredging
	Big Canyon
	West Bay
	Bayview
	Vista Point
	Watershed

Once a functioning complex of wetland habitats, Big Canyon (see map) is now a cattail-choked collection point for unfiltered runoff from a two-square-mile watershed. Repeated flooding, particularly during the 1997 El Nino storms, has caused enormous damage, destroying habitat and public access.

The Big Canyon Creek Restoration Project, funded by the City of Newport Beach and the California Coastal Conservancy, has been undertaken to address these problems. NBNF was instrumental in initiating this project.

California Conservancy International (CCI) was hired to conduct scientific and technical analysis and develop a restoration plan with conceptual designs for a functioning mosaic of wetland and upland habitats and improved public access in Big Canyon. WRC then undertook the detailed design and permitting phase of the project, based on the "historic tidelands" option recommended by CCI in the conceptual design phase. Tidelands will be re-established where the parking lot and the fresh water pond currently are. A new pond will be constructed upstream and Back Bay Drive rerouted inland of the new tidelands. Public meetings to review the design took place in 2007. For latest information visit the Big Canyon Project page on the City website.