Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust | Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust (LCWLT)

Great News for the Restoration of Los Cerritos Wetlands

I’ve got some excellent news to share with you!

After years and years of public meetings, review, and planning, the restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands’ southern acreage is set to receive significant funding. This multi-year restoration will restore a wide range of wetland types from subtidal wetlands to upland transition habitats. Its design will take into account historical ecology, natural ecosystem processes, tribal cultural resources, public access, resiliency to sea level rise, and current site biotic and abiotic conditions. This funding will enable this important restoration project to get started and it can’t come a moment too soon. Learn more and then do your part to help ensure this critical funding moves expeditiously so restoration can begin.

LEARN MORE
Attend our 7 PM, September 5th community briefing featuring special guest speaker Eric Zahn to learn further details and how you can help. Eric Zahn is the Principal Restoration Ecologist at Tidal Influence LLC and the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority’s Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration Project manager. The meeting will be via Zoom so you can easily attend virtually and I hope you will.

Email me to RSVP and I will send you the Zoom link. In addition to being really informative, Eric Zahn is an engaging and interesting speaker and you won’t want to miss him. Don’t forget to RSVP now!

DO YOUR PART
Whether you attend the briefing or not please take a moment to send in a letter of support to the California Coastal Conservancy supporting this proposed funding.

Don’t forget to add your name & address at the end and include why Los Cerritos Wetlands is important to you!

Why we support the project:
• The restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands provides a tremendous opportunity to increase open space for the community and wildlife in a densely populated area.
• The Los Cerritos Wetlands represent one of the few remaining opportunities to restore a significant area of coastal wetlands in the Los Angeles and Orange County region.
• Funding for this project will facilitate the final design for the restoration of 100 acres of wildlife habitat and the creation of new public access trails and facilities. It will also support the implementation of over 50 acres of habitat restoration.
• The project will result in important benefits for wildlife, coastal access, and improved resilience to climate change.

To learn more about the process of restoring Los Cerritos Wetlands (and beyond), check out the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority’s webpage on the Southern Los Cerritos Restoration Project.

Thank you for caring about Los Cerritos Wetlands and hope to see you at the community briefing on September 5th.

Elizabeth Lambe
Executive Director
Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust

Below is the the Southern area of Los Cerritos Wetlands on a sunny day. The wetlands look good but they will look even better and provide better habitat once they are restored and invasive plants, like the yellow mustard weed in this photo, are removed. Did you know that invasive plants take over and crowd out native plants? We need native plants to provide food and shelter to coastal wetlands species. Photo: Jason Lustig

Action Alert: Support AB1322 the CA Ecosystems Protection Act

The California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2023 (AB 1322) needs your support! Please reach out to the representatives listed below and let them know you do not want toxic rodenticides to harm wildlife like owls, raptors, coyotes, mountain lions, foxes, and small mammals that are critical to the health of our ecosystem. Protect wildlife at Los Cerritos Wetlands and across the state of California by making your voice heard!

KEY FACTS
● The California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2023 would expand restrictions on toxic rat poisons and set a moratorium on a deadly first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide.
● The legislation would extend an existing moratorium on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides.
● Widespread rodenticide use harms children, pets and wildlife.
● More than half of wildlife tested in California have been exposed to rodenticides.

The bill is now before the Senate Appropriations Committee chaired by Senator Anthony Portantino, and that committee will decide whether to advance the bill on September 1^st. During this critical step in the process, many bills are “held,” and do not advance.

We would greatly appreciate your help urging Senator Portantino to advance the bill. Contact information for Senator Portantino is available here and an email template is listed below, which we encourage you to add your voice to.

COPY & PASTE EMAIL:

Dear Chair Portantino and Committee Members,

I strongly support the California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2023 (AB 1322) that protects California wildlife and communities against harmful rodenticides.

Anticoagulant rodenticides are poisoning California wildlife and have been documented in at least 38 nontarget species, including the critically endangered San Joaquin kit fox and California condor. The problem is so severe that over 70% of wildlife tested in California are exposed to rodenticides. National Park Service researchers have documented the presence of anticoagulant rodenticides in 39 out of 40 mountain lions tested in the Santa Monica Mountains, which are already threatened with local extinction from habitat fragmentation and lack of wildlife connectivity. In September 2022, the four unborn kittens of a pregnant mountain lion named P-54 also tested positive for anticoagulant rodenticides.

AB 1322 is desperately needed to extend the existing moratorium on dangerous second generation anticoagulant rodenticides and strengthen future restrictions on anticoagulant rodenticides, including the first generation anticoagulant diphacinone, to better protect wildlife, children, and pets.

Please advance the bill past Senate Appropriations.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

FIRST LAST

EMAIL ADDRESSES & CONTACT INFO:

Senator Portantino’s Contact Info

Other Chair Members & Staff:

Staff member for Anthony Portantino; Ashley Ames (Ashley.Ames@sen.ca.gov)
Senator Angelique V. Ashby (staff member; Cassidy.Denny@sen.ca.gov)
Senator Steven Bradford (staff member; Christopher.Morales@sen.ca.gov)
Senator Aisha Wahab (staff member; Zachariah.Oquenda@sen.ca.gov)
Senator Scott D. Wiener (staff member; Raayan.Mohtashemi@sen.ca.gov)

Thank you to Raptors are the Solution for spreading the word about this important issue.

Join us this weekend for our September 2nd Raptor Ramble

Come check out the Los Cerritos Wetlands on Saturday, September 2nd. This guided outdoor walking tour is led by environmental educators from Tidal Influence, a local environmental firm that is actively working to restore the wetlands.
Our Raptor Ramble nature walk will begin with a brief orientation to the Los Cerritos Wetlands, followed by a stroll through heritage coastal sage scrub and historic dredge spoils while looking for raptors (birds of prey) and other birds that nest in the area. As we pass the salt flats, we may see tiger beetles and coyote tracks while hiking up to the Heron Pointe Cultural trail.
We recommend bringing binoculars if you have them, and the walk is great for both beginner and experienced birders.
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WHERE: Meet in the driveway/parking area at the corner of 1st St and PCH in Seal Beach. Close-toed shoes required, and kids under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. There are no bathrooms along the route so please plan accordingly.
Once you start the walk with us you must stay for the entire time as we are walking behind locked gates in a restricted access area.
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WHEN: Saturday, September 2nd, at 8:00 am sharp! The parking lot gate will open at 7:45 AM and close at 8:10 AM. No latecomers can be admitted, and all participants must stay for the entire walk, which will end by 10:00 AM.
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RSVP on Eventbrite here!
Questions about this event or other events? Email elizabeth@lcwlandtrust.org

Join Us For Our Annual Meeting Thursday July 13th

We are so happy to host an informative and interesting in-person meeting (held outside to be extra safe). I hope you will attend the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust’s community meeting on Thursday evening, July 13 at 7:00 PM.

The purpose of our meeting is to update the community about the progress of the restoration of Los Cerritos Wetlands. It still blows my mind that at one point there was a golf course, strip mall, and houses proposed for our fragile local wetlands. I am thankful that while threats remain, those harmful projects were never realized and that now half of Los Cerritos Wetlands are publicly owned with more on its way. Now that this much-degraded land is safely in the public trust the next goal is to restore the land and bring it back to life. Eric Zahn has been spearheading that effort and he has important updates to share.

Learn details at our member meeting (anyone is invited to attend) on July 13. In addition to hearing from our speaker, Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust members will be voting on some Board of Director positions.

What: Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust Board Election/Community Meeting
When: Thursday, July 13 at 7:00 PM
Where: Belmont Heights United Methodist Church
(in their lovely outdoor courtyard area)
317 Termino Ave
Long Beach, CA 90814

In addition to Eric’s presentation, we will be using this occasion to conduct our Board of Directors election, with four of our sitting directors seeking terms. Before the feature presentation, each of our Board candidates will have an opportunity to speak to attendees about their continuing commitment to Los Cerritos Wetlands, and Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust members will be able to vote.

Whether you are a member or not, all are welcome at this meeting. For more information about the meeting or to RSVP, email Elizabeth.

Hope to see you there!

Elizabeth Lambe
Executive Director
Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust

P.S. Below is an image of the Seal Beach part of Los Cerritos Wetlands which is the first area scheduled to be comprehensively restored. Attend our July 13 meeting and learn more. (Photo by Jason Lustig)

Reserve your spot now for our August 5th Heron Hike

I urge you to sign up now to attend our August 5 Heron Hike nature walk.

Join us, and educators from the environmental consulting firm Tidal Influence, on a wonderful nature walk at Los Cerritos Wetlands on Saturday, August 5.

The unusual Marketplace Marsh is an amazing feature of Los Cerritos Wetlands. Perhaps there will be water within Marketplace Marsh, but certainly, there will be lots of interesting plants and animals that attendees will learn about along the way. Environmental educators will take participants on a walking tour to Marketplace Marsh on the City of Long Beach’s wetlands and over to the San Gabriel River to property held by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. We will likely come across great blue herons, as well as egrets and other water-loving wildlife.

During this 2-mile urban hike, you will learn about the history of land acquisitions in Los Cerritos Wetlands, and leaders will show us some freshwater marsh habitats that few people have ever viewed.

WHAT: Nature walk to Marketplace Marsh at Los Cerritos Wetlands.

WHEN: Saturday, August 5, 2023, at 8:00 AM. The parking lot gate will open at 7:45 AM and close at 8:10 AM. No latecomers can be admitted for the tour, and all participants must stay for the entire tour, which will end by 10:00 AM.

WHERE: Meet in the driveway/parking area at the corner of 1st Street and PCH in Seal Beach. There will be signs.

Close-toed shoes are required to attend the walk, and kids under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Reserve your spot via our Eventbrite page. Feel free to email any questions you may have.

Urgent Alert! Defend the California Environmental Quality Act

Background
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), is a bedrock environmental law that consistently improves development projects from habitat and community perspectives. It gives stakeholders a voice in environmental issues where special interests often have too much power and influence with decision-makers through campaign contributions.

Governor Newsom is trying to weaken the law in a very inappropriate manner – not through the usual legislative process but rather through last-minute “budget trailer bills” that don’t have regular public hearings.

Action Requested
Time is very short, and we would like to ask you to take action today or as soon as possible. Please call and leave a message for the Governor at 916-445-2841, or email him here. Below is a sample message:

I oppose the budget trailer bills that weaken the CEQA process, harming the environment and limiting the ability of citizens and communities to participate in governmental decision-making.

Los Cerritos Wetlands (and all wetlands) would look very different (way worse!) without the protection of CEQA. Take a minute to defend this important environmental law. Future generations will thank you.

Elizabeth Lambe
Executive Director
Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust

Email the Governor now!

Energy Agencies Continue to Request Extensions

By Joe Geever, Energy and Environmental Consultant

This summer, the California State Water Resources Control Board will decide whether to extend permits for several coastal power plants to continue using once-through cooling (OTC) – including the AES Alamitos Energy Center here in Long Beach. The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust has some concerns about that plan.

OTC is a design feature of older power plants. The generators are cooled by water drawn from a waterbody, pumped through the cooling system and discharged back into the waterbody. Those old cooling systems also withdraw and kill marine life, causing a significant adverse impact on healthy marine life populations and ecosystems. This intake and mortality of marine life is particularly concerning here because the cooling water is withdrawn from Alamitos Bay and the Los Cerritos Wetlands.

In 2010, the California State Water Board passed regulations to modernize these antiquated cooling systems. The new rules allowed time for all the power plant owners to prepare, and included a schedule to stagger the modernizing retrofits and avoid any risk to electrical grid reliability. Until completed, the power plants were required to pay mitigation fees to “replace” the marine life killed.

The AES Alamitos power plant has completed one phase of that transition by replacing several of the older generators with more efficient gas turbines that don’t require OTC. But there are still some older AES Alamitos generators operating. These OTC generators were originally scheduled to be phased out in 2020, but the state’s energy agencies requested an extension to leave them online until 2023 to ensure grid reliability. Now, the energy agencies are requesting another extension until 2026, and that decision will be made by the State Water Board hearing this summer.

In brief, the energy agencies proposed the original schedule and now have requested two extensions. It’s not clear in the pending request that there won’t be more extensions. Of course, these extensions also prolong the marine life intake and mortality in the wetlands. Did you know that since the OTC regulations were adopted, the mitigation fees have not been adequate to meet the promise of “replacing” the marine life lost, and none of the mitigation fees have been designated for restoration projects in Los Cerritos Wetlands where the harm is caused?

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust is well aware of the difficulties of transitioning to a new energy reliability future. But we are concerned that the current transition from antiquated generators of the past is not meeting the promises of mitigating the impacts. Further, we think the State Water Board needs to make it perfectly clear that the energy agencies cannot continue requesting extensions of the law indefinitely.

Adapting our energy system to mitigate climate change is a thorny and difficult issue. But our coastal wetlands are also threatened by climate change and need restoration and protection. We strongly believe those goals can and must be met with equal urgency.

Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust has submitted its concerns to the State Water Resources Control Board. View the comment letter below.

Additonally, we are asking our supporters to sign a petition that will be submitted to the State Water Board this summer. To sign the petition visit www.change.org/AES-Extension

Read the LCWLT’s comment letter below:

LCWLT-comments-on-proposed-OTC-extensions Download

Wetlands Restoration Meeting on April 27th

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority will be hosting its third public meeting (virtually) to discuss its Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration Project and the related environmental analysis document, as required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The meeting will be held via Zoom on Thursday, April 27th from 6:00 pm-7:30 pm.

You can access the meeting by clicking this link. I urge you to attend to learn the latest news about the status of restoration planning within the
Los Cerritos Wetlands Complex.

The Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration Project involves the restoration of tidal wetlands on 103.5 acres of the Los Cerritos Wetlands located in Seal Beach, California. It will facilitate the restoration of a range of wetland types extending from subtidal habitat to upland transition habitat. The restoration design considers factors such as historical ecology, natural ecosystem processes, tribal cultural resources, public access, resiliency to sea level rise, and current biotic and abiotic conditions of the site.

This public meeting will include a presentation of the restoration design and a discussion of the CEQA Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND). The LCWA and members of the consultant team will also provide a brief summary of their prior public meetings and share information about the next steps in the process. There will be several opportunities throughout the meeting to ask questions. Additionally, the LCWA is releasing an IS/MND analyzing the project’s potential impacts. The IS/MND are available for a 30-day public comment period beginning April 10, 2023, and ending May 10, 2023.

Don’t forget to tune in on Thursday, April 27th at 6:00 PM to learn more.

Planning Commission votes for a proposed development near Los Cerritos Wetlands

On Thursday, April 20th, the Long Beach Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of a new development proposed on the corner of Studebaker and PCH (currently Congressional Place).

The current two-story building (over one level of parking) will be demolished and replaced with a 6-story residential building with 281 units and 3,000 square feet of retail space. Due to California’s low-income housing laws, the development is allowed more height than a market rate development would receive under the new SEASP regulations. That is because the new development will contain 13 low-income units that qualify for additional stories and other benefits. For the record, we don’t deny that California needs more affordable housing. However, this development (likely the first of many in the area) will be denser, higher, and more traffic-generating than the current structure on the property. We worry about how all of that will impact nearby fragile wetlands.

We reviewed the development carefully and while there are some important and good things about the project (bird-safe lighting and native plant landscaping for example) we are still scratching our heads about a couple of things and shared our concerns with the City in the form of this letter.

We appreciate our good dialog with the project proponents and plan to continue to engage with them about our concerns about the project. Stay tuned, as we learn further details we will share them with you.

Join Us for a Heron Hike on May 6th

Come check out the Los Cerritos Wetlands on Saturday, February 4th. This guided outdoor walking tour is led by environmental educators from Tidal Influence, a local environmental firm that is actively working to restore the wetlands. With all of the recent rain, there should be lots of water throughout the marsh and lots of interesting plants and animals to learn about along the way. We will likely come across Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, and other water-loving wildlife.

This 2-mile urban hike travels through the City of Long Beach’s wetlands and on property held by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. The guides will discuss the history of land acquisitions in Los Cerritos Wetlands and show us some marsh habitats that few people get to see. Participants will get a behind-the-scenes look at how valuable wetland habitat persists among oil operations at Los Cerritos Wetlands.
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WHERE: Meet in the driveway/parking area at the corner of 1st Street and PCH in Seal Beach. There will be signs.

RSVP for the walk through our Eventbrite page and if you have any questions feel free to send an email.

Important things to know are that close-toed shoes are required to attend the walk, and kids under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

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