Impact

Current Human Impacts

Over the course of time, the wetlands have been used for many different purposes of the people of Southern California. From its origins as a place of worship and hunting for fish and game, the Bolsa Chica Wetlands have undergone many changes in barriers and also usage. A portion of the wetlands (about 1,200 acres) were officially sectioned off to be an ecological reserve, as a means of maintaining and cultivating the biodiversity that exists there. Through a long struggle of public sanctions of such preservation organizations such as the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, plans of constructing a commercial marina were soon demolished, and the territory up for preservation expanded--to a point where the wetlands being preserved became one of the biggest coastal protection projects ever in Southern California.

source: http://www.ghostshobbiephotos.zoomshare.com/files/Seagull_setting_on_the_sign.png

Impacts in the past have included the sectioning of land there in the era of Spanish rule, as a means of ranching to the constructions of dams in 1899 as a means of commercializing the land, and the oil strike of 1920 in the area, causing much destruction the wetlands and areas surrounding it. Signal Oil Company acquired the land for drilling, leading to the development of Amigos de Bolsa Chica in 1976 as a means of protecting the land from exhaustion.

source: http://www.oceanlight.com/stock-photo/oil-well-huntington-beach-picture-19917-706175.jpg

By the 1980s, the wetlands of California were lost, to a minimal 10% left. As the community entered the early 21th century,  public acquisition of the wetlands allowed for the progressive planning for restoration, and by 2006, ocean tidal waters finally entered the wetlands--the first time in 100 years (Amigos De Bolsa Chica, ©2010).
 All the human impact has subsequently resulted in a negative aftereffect, as levels of biodiversity decline, and continue to do so. For example, about 75% of the coastal wetland acres have been depleted (Peter, 1988).

Benefits
Much of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands has been used as agricultural land for grazing, to the plethora of biodiversity that is involved in feeding the people that live around there. Nowadays it serves as a location for the supply of weapons and artillery for coastal military, as well as oil drilling and production (Amigos De Bolsa Chica, ©2010).
The chart below explains how the saltwater wetlands of Bolsa Chica are, affect in primary production of energy, compared to other ecosystems.

source: http://www.amigosdebolsachica.org/images/productivity_chart_large.gif

Protected Areas
Through Amigos de Bolsa Chica, efforts of public preservation have been increased, and now with the ecological reserve still striving, efforts to restoration the biodiversity have bettered,  as well as the awareness of preservation. They are the managers of the $110 million project, funded by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as a means to mitigate their commercializing and destruction to biodiversity (Amigos De Bolsa Chica, ©2010). The current status on the protected areas is thriving and good, as problems with climate change and other industrialization factors are becoming more evident to the public, as well as a rise in interest of community and cultural preservation. Though a long process, the restoration plans have gone into effect with controversy, but the effects are slowly rising (Peter, 1988). There are many other organizations that have advocated protection, preservation and cultivation of the biodiversity of the natural areas, thus adding to the betterment of it (Bolsa Chica Conservancy, ©2000). As studies recently showed in 2010, it was quoted that: "It is clear that the goal of the restoration to provide a haven for resident and migratory birds as well as fish and other aquatic species has been successfully fulfilled." (Amigos De Bolsa Chica, ©2010).

source: http://books.google.com/books?id=bI3cc2IMq9MC&lpg=PA317&ots=o6kee2JFsb&dq=human%20impact%20of%20wetlands%20in%20bolsa%20chica&lr&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false