Dam broken to restore Calif. wetlands

[villager]

in the rare, good news dept...

Dam broken to restore Calif. wetlands

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - The ocean flowed into historic wetlands Thursday for the first time in more than a century after bulldozers peeled back the last layer of an earthen dam.
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Environmentalists who worked for 30 years to restore the massive Bolsa Chica area cheered and sipped champagne as the salty water poured into the fragile ecosystem that had been tapped as an oil field for decades.

The event capped a two-year project that cost more than $100 million and shunted a portion of the scenic Pacific Coast Highway onto an overpass.

Officials said it would take at least six hours for the ocean water to fill the 387-acre basin. The area had been separated from the ocean for 107 years.

The eight state and federal agencies involved in the project call it the largest and most ambitious restoration of coastal wetlands in the history of California, where 95 percent of saltwater marshes have been given over to development.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_re_us/wetlands_restored

[Atman]

1. I can't help but thinking that after 107 years...

...maybe the area had adapted to its new role? I mean, I'm Mr. Environmental, and my immediate reaction is to cheer this development. But, uh...what kind of wildlife (if any, I honestly don't know) moved in, what type of ecosystem developed in the absence of the wetlands? I'd be cheering far more if we were stopping CURRENT wetlands abuses, and knocking back projects we know to be damaging now, but are allowing to proceed.

But all that aside, this is certainly good news. I think. But I'm not a frog or a one of the critters who live in Bolsa Chica.

[villager]

2. it will be interesting to see if any species can "return," certainly

--especially the birds (who I understand have started coming back already)

Beyond that, though, there's the filtering role to be played by wetlands... well, until global warming puts all the current wetlands underwater.

Then: meet the new wetlands!

[Kagemusha]

3. It's about reversing the progress of civilization.

Actual honest environmentalism divorced from anti-capitalist crusading is something I have no problem supporting but, that has, shall we say, a low frequency rate in nature.