Harriett Wieder Regional Park
The Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s Harriett Wieder Regional Park project is a 9.5ac restoration site located within Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park in Huntington Beach. This project was financed through OCTA as a part of mitigation funding from their OC Go program, as well as the Warne Family Endowment Fund through the Orange County Community Foundation. Through this project, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy seeks to restore wildlife habitat by removing non-native plants and planting appropriate native plants to increase species diversity and native coverage.
The Conservancy first started this project in the fall of 2016, and has since dramatically changed the appearance and function of the landscape. With the help of many hard working volunteers, the Conservancy planted over 7,000 container plants, spread over 400 lbs of seed, and removed countless amounts of invasive plants. In addition to the installation of native plants and removal of non-native plants, there have been several visible impacts made to the project site, including the smoothing of fill piles, installation of a water line, and the filling of a large abandoned survey trench. As the project progresses, the Conservancy’s HWRP restoration project should increase foraging and hunting areas for local wildlife, and provide a buffer for wildlife in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. A major goal of this project is to increase populations of the rare southern tarplant* at the project site. Additionally, this project seeks to provide suitable habitat for sensitive species, including the Least Bell’s Vireo*, Coastal Cactus Wren*, California Gnatcatcher*, and Burrowing Owl*.
The major targets for this project are to reduce non-native plant coverage to less than 5% and raise native plant coverage to at least 75%, and to maintain a healthy population of southern tarplant* within the site. In order to track the progress of this project and monitor the health of the habitat, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy conducts annual surveys at this site.