Reserve Watch volunteers provide education at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
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The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is a unique and special place in Huntington Beach.
One of the largest and last remaining coastal wetlands in California, it’s home to more than 1,000 documented species of wildlife. Forty-two of those, including birds like the Western snowy plover and California least turn, are special status species. The term indicates plants or animals that are threatened, endangered or vulnerable.
Fortunately, Melissa Borde did not fly away after becoming the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve manager in 2020.
Borde is with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which manages the wetlands. She saw a huge space of about 1,300 acres that would be hard to manage with her small staff.
“It’s surrounded by millions of people and it’s located next to one of the busiest highways and beaches,” Borde said. “As you can imagine, it’s a constant effort to protect it and educate visitors about the importance of rules. What I noticed when I took the job was that most people that come here come because they love nature. You do get tons of positive support, positive feedback, people that are here for a great reason, [but] I really got overwhelmed at how many people just refused to follow the rules and didn’t want to be told what to do.
“I said, ‘How can we turn a positive spin on this? How can we create a positive program that educates the local community and visitors?’”
The answer to those questions was the Bolsa Chica Reserve Watch volunteer program, which launched at the end of November 2022 following in-person volunteer training. Four nonprofits associated with the reserve — Amigos de Bolsa Chica, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and Sea & Sage Audubon Society — were involved in the creation and funding of the program.
A celebration is planned for Saturday to commemorate the program’s two-year anniversary.
Thomas Anderson, administrative director of Amigos de Bolsa Chica, said he worked with Bolsa Chica Land Trust executive director Kim Kolpin to secure a $20,000 grant for the program through the California Coastal Commission in early 2023. This helped fund the initial year and get the program off the ground.
“That was a nice affirmation that it was a good project,” Anderson said. “It’s a difficult grant to get, it’s very competitive.”
The Reserve Watch program represents a new level of outreach for the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. The volunteers, who are required to serve at least eight hours a month, help protect the reserve’s wildlife and habitats by educating the public about species there and helping them better understand and respect the rules.
For example, dogs, bicycles and drones are not allowed.
“This is an ecological reserve, not your everyday park,” said Annie Daw, the Reserve Watch program manager.
Daw said that Reserve Watch currently has 30 volunteers, 20 of which she described as very active. Through the end of last month they had logged about 41,000 visitor interactions.
There have been 1,300 reported violations, and the most common one has been visitors who simply go off the 5 miles of trails at the reserve. Guests who remain noncompliant are reported to Californians Turn in Poachers and Polluters (CalTIP).
In general, though, Daw said violations are becoming less and less frequent, thanks to the help of the volunteers.
“They make connections between people and the wildlife,” Daw said. “By making those connections, they make people care about this place even more.”
Andrea Sward, who joined the Amigos de Bolsa Chica soon after moving to Huntington Beach in 1985, has seen that cycle ramp up since the creation of the program.
Sward has been one of the most dedicated volunteers. There are thrills that come with the job, like one recent shift when Sward said she got pictures of a sea lion that popped his head out of the water for a visit.
“We give a lot in terms of volunteering, but we get a lot in return too,” Sward said. “We found that the more people know, the more invested they get in the area and the more they become spokespeople to help preserve it.”
Carissa Macias, executive director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, said one man came into the nonprofit’s interpretive center recently inquiring about becoming a part of Reserve Watch. He wanted to help protect a burrowing owl that has been on the reserve lately.
“In order to protect it, people have to understand what’s there and why it’s important, have that point of contact to connect with what’s there,” Macias said. “Many people will probably just view it as a beautiful space to enjoy on a nice walk or something, which it is, but there’s so much more going on there within the ecology. There’s so many more biological features that make it an important environment to protect.”
That’s the goal of each of the four nonprofits, but Borde highlighted the spirit of collaboration between them that led to the creation of Reserve Watch.
They put aside any differences in order to protect the common good of the wetlands, which serves as a critical stop along the Pacific Flyway for thousands of birds.
The previously mentioned Western snowy plover and California least turn are doing well. Last year, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve had 140 nests of the federally threatened snowy plover. The least tern, which is both state and federally endangered, had 100 nests at Bolsa Chica, also in the restricted area of the reserve not open to the public.
Kolpin, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust executive director, said her organization is very pleased with how the Reserve Watch has progressed.
“Visit respectfully and pay attention to the rules,” she said. “That means that Bolsa Chica will be more sustainable, healthier and thrive into the future.”
For more information about the Reserve Watch program or information on volunteering, email Daw at [email protected]. Volunteers are required to watch training videos and participate in an in-person field training that covers all four station locations.
Donations to the program can be made via any of the nonprofits, Daw said, as long as it’s noted that they are for the program.
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