Historic Wetlands Reclamation Project

For over 100 years, the Bolsa Chica area, nearly 400 acres of natural wetlands, has been dammed in and cut off from the Pacific Ocean near Huntington Beach, Ca. The area has been used for oil drilling and was slated to be developed into housing projects.

That all changed today as bulldozers took down the last dam, and the ocean's tidal flow was once again allowed to nourish and replenish this crucial marshland ecosystem. This is a big win for California, where 95% of wetlands have been filled in and developed.

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.

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.

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I hope this is the beginning of a trend to repair the damage we have done to alot of natural biomes. Its ine small step, but hopefully, one in the right direction.