Restoration Projects

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

The West Bay area of Upper Newport Bay stretches from Santiago Drive to University Drive on the west side of the Upper Bay. See map. This is one of the most heavily-visited areas of the Bay. But there is no system of appropriate public access, so visitors have made their own unauthorized trails causing heavy erosion and damage to fragile native wetland and bluff habitats, and disruption of nesting of endangered birds such as the light-footed clapper rail. Upper Newport Bay is the most important of only a few places where this bird still breeds in the wild.

Two projects have been initiated by OC Parks to address the problems described. The first is the restoration of a 6-acre restoration project is to enhance the quality of habitat and stabilize eroding bluff and barranca areas approximately 170 yards south of the Muth Interpretive Center. Non-native invasive plant species will be removed and restored with native coastal sage scrub and native grassland. Native plant species will be selected that provide maximum value for sensitive wildlife species within the Nature Preserve and the adjacent Ecological Reserve. The project will be implemented over a one year period followed by consecutive years of monitoring and maintenance. An aggressive establishment and maintenance program will be included to insure success of the native plant habitats.

The second project is a more extensive, long-term project to provide a holistic approach that addresses habitat restoration and controlled public access to the wetland edge of Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve in the entire West Bay area. The project will be a collaborative effort involving members of the UNB Management Coalition.