Prop 4 and Bolsa Chica
PROPOSITION 4, THE PARKS, ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND WATER BOND MEASURE, WILL BE ON YOUR BALLOT IN THIS NOVEMBER’S ELECTION.
Proposition 4, the Parks, Environment, Energy, and Water Bond Measure, will be on your ballot in this November’s election. Prop. 4 is critical to funding important projects for drinking water security and fire resiliency, for drought preparedness and sea-level rise resiliency, and for habitat protection and restoration projects in California. Prop. 4, if passed by the voters, will go a long way to protect the fragile habitats, endangered species, the natural landscapes that we love, and our communities we call home. For Bolsa Chica, it will create the opportunity for us to request funding to complete the restoration of nesting habitat for the next 25 generations of California Least Terns and Western Snowy Plovers.
BCLT and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which manages the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, have been hard at work on the planning and permitting process to restore two important nesting islands within the Reserve. This process has taken years because the restoration will be complex, involving building a temporary bridge to move equipment and new sand onto both islands, while minimizing impacts to the wetland. The two nesting islands in Inner Bolsa Bay were the first two habitats created when the Ecological Reserve came into being in the late 1970s and are used by 11 different species. Over time the islands have been degraded by tides and weather, and they need to be restored.
We are now ready to get to work and finish the project. However, with a $2 million price tag, we need funding from the state to get it done. Bonds are the main source of natural resource funding in California – and Prop. 4 will provide the money for the projects which will help California achieve its goal of protecting 30% of our lands and waters for conservation by the year 2030. Prop. 68 funds paid for the planning and permitting part of this project, and we will request funding for the rest from Prop. 4 funds if it passes. If Prop. 4 fails, it will be years before funding becomes available from the state for not only this project, but also many others at Bolsa Chica and throughout California.
