Colorado Lagoon Habitat Restoration
Invasive Plant Removal
If you have visited the lagoon recently, you may have noticed some activity in the Western Arm. This is part of an ongoing improvement project at the Lagoon that will remove non-native plants before they spread any more. Additional information can be found in the photos below!
If you have visited the lagoon recently, you may have noticed some activity in the Western Arm. This is part of an ongoing improvement project at the Lagoon that will remove non-native plants before they spread any more. Additional information can be found in the photos below!
Construction Updates
The City of Long Beach is updating their project webpage with construction information as well as a "look ahead" for the upcoming months. Check it out for information and photos! www.longbeach.gov/pw/projects/colorado-lagoon-project/ You can sign up for automatic updates about the project at this webpage!
The restoration of the Colorado Lagoon is a project led by the City of Long Beach with support and advocacy by the Friends of Colorado Lagoon. Below the overview photo is a summary of the restoration efforts starting from the final phase and working backwards.
The City of Long Beach is updating their project webpage with construction information as well as a "look ahead" for the upcoming months. Check it out for information and photos! www.longbeach.gov/pw/projects/colorado-lagoon-project/ You can sign up for automatic updates about the project at this webpage!
The restoration of the Colorado Lagoon is a project led by the City of Long Beach with support and advocacy by the Friends of Colorado Lagoon. Below the overview photo is a summary of the restoration efforts starting from the final phase and working backwards.
Rendering of the final plan of the entire Colorado Lagoon restoration
Final Phase
While all of the Phase 1 improvements are integral to recovering the health of this urban ecosystem, the ultimate, long term solution is reconnecting the marine habitat to full tidal flushing. FOCL has been advocating for the restoration of a tidal channel that once connected Colorado Lagoon to Marine Stadium. Upon certifying the restoration project’s EIR, the Long Beach City Council requested an additional study to take a closer look at alternatives that could improve the site’s tidal circulation. Loss of park space was considered as part of this study as well as maximizing salt marsh habitat and fundability and minimizing construction and maintenance costs. Another constraint examined in the design study were the two roadways that fall between the Lagoon and Marine Stadium that must either be bridged or outfitted with short underground culverts. This study analyzed four alternatives and was completed in June 2010 by Moffat and Nichol. The alternative that was ultimately supported by the community and State and Federal Regulators was identified as Alternative 4A: a complete open tidal channel with two bridges, one on the Marine Stadium end and one on the Lagoon end and the existing culvert abandoned (2.21 acres of wetlands created). The Long Beach City Council approved this alternative on November 16th, 2010.
Community-Based Restoration
Start Date: September 1st, 2008
End Date: On-going
Funders: Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Port of Long Beach, California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, REI, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, California Native Plant Society, LA County, California State Coastal Conservancy
Description:
The first excursion into community-based restoration at Colorado Lagoon began in 2008 and our program’s volunteers manually removed 25,000 pounds of non-native invasive ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis) and installed 3,500 native coastal habitat plant species in about 2 acres of tidal wetlands, uplands and bluff habitat on the eastern side of the Lagoon. This was the first phase of the community-based effort and was completed in April 2011.
Phases 2 and 3 of the community-based restoration are located in the Western Arm where banks of the Lagoon are being recontoured. Phase 2 encompasses all of the intertidal areas in the western arm and the upland areas between the golf course and lifeguard tower, while phase 3 is on the northern side of the Western Arm. Work began in the Western Arm in September 2012, with funding from the Rivers and Mountain Conservancy, to install perimeter fences, erosion control, signage, educational kiosks, and, of course, native plants. Phases 2 and 3 were completed in 2014.
After a three year establishment period, Phase 2 is slated for another community-based restoration project funded by the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project and State Coastal Conservancy to enhance areas with less success from the initial restoration project installation in 2012. Education kiosk replacements, erosion control measures, soil conditioning and native plant installations will be completed in Fall 2017 through FOCL's community-based programs.
End Date: On-going
Funders: Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Port of Long Beach, California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, REI, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, California Native Plant Society, LA County, California State Coastal Conservancy
Description:
The first excursion into community-based restoration at Colorado Lagoon began in 2008 and our program’s volunteers manually removed 25,000 pounds of non-native invasive ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis) and installed 3,500 native coastal habitat plant species in about 2 acres of tidal wetlands, uplands and bluff habitat on the eastern side of the Lagoon. This was the first phase of the community-based effort and was completed in April 2011.
Phases 2 and 3 of the community-based restoration are located in the Western Arm where banks of the Lagoon are being recontoured. Phase 2 encompasses all of the intertidal areas in the western arm and the upland areas between the golf course and lifeguard tower, while phase 3 is on the northern side of the Western Arm. Work began in the Western Arm in September 2012, with funding from the Rivers and Mountain Conservancy, to install perimeter fences, erosion control, signage, educational kiosks, and, of course, native plants. Phases 2 and 3 were completed in 2014.
After a three year establishment period, Phase 2 is slated for another community-based restoration project funded by the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project and State Coastal Conservancy to enhance areas with less success from the initial restoration project installation in 2012. Education kiosk replacements, erosion control measures, soil conditioning and native plant installations will be completed in Fall 2017 through FOCL's community-based programs.
Contaminated Marine Sediment Dredging
Start Date: February 1st, 2012
End Date: August 15th, 2012
Funders: State Water Quality Control Boards, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Army Corp of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the State Coastal Conservancy
Description:
Phase 1b mobilized in January 2012 and was completed by August 2013. This portion of the project included massive construction equipment for dredging and bank resloping. Initial estimates indicated that 22,500 cubic yards of sediment would need to be removed from the western arm. However, the Regional Water Quality Control Board set Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for chlordane, dieldrin, lead, zinc, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) for this 303d listed water body in late 2009 (Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board 2009). Further studies discovered that around 63,000 cubic yards of sediment throughout the entire Lagoon would need to be removed in order for the Lagoon to meet strict, new water quality standards.
Throughout the water quality standards revision process, the appropriateness of using NOAA’s Effects Range Low (ERL) and Effects Range Median (ERM) values for TMDLs was heavily debated because these levels do not represent toxicity thresholds for marine organisms. Instead, these levels represent a low and midpoint, respectively, within the range of bulk chemical concentrations in sediment and do not directly relate to sediment toxicity. These redefined contamination level standards were eventually accepted for the project, leading to an increase in implementation cost, particularly due to the expense of the required stabilization process and the increase in amount of sediment being defined as contaminated. All of the contaminated sediment was tested upon removal and the sediment determined to be contaminated in nature was stabilized on-site and then trucked to the Port of Long Beach for use in their “Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project.” The sediment sent to the Port was stabilized using a variety of techniques including cement stabilization.
End Date: August 15th, 2012
Funders: State Water Quality Control Boards, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Army Corp of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the State Coastal Conservancy
Description:
Phase 1b mobilized in January 2012 and was completed by August 2013. This portion of the project included massive construction equipment for dredging and bank resloping. Initial estimates indicated that 22,500 cubic yards of sediment would need to be removed from the western arm. However, the Regional Water Quality Control Board set Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for chlordane, dieldrin, lead, zinc, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) for this 303d listed water body in late 2009 (Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board 2009). Further studies discovered that around 63,000 cubic yards of sediment throughout the entire Lagoon would need to be removed in order for the Lagoon to meet strict, new water quality standards.
Throughout the water quality standards revision process, the appropriateness of using NOAA’s Effects Range Low (ERL) and Effects Range Median (ERM) values for TMDLs was heavily debated because these levels do not represent toxicity thresholds for marine organisms. Instead, these levels represent a low and midpoint, respectively, within the range of bulk chemical concentrations in sediment and do not directly relate to sediment toxicity. These redefined contamination level standards were eventually accepted for the project, leading to an increase in implementation cost, particularly due to the expense of the required stabilization process and the increase in amount of sediment being defined as contaminated. All of the contaminated sediment was tested upon removal and the sediment determined to be contaminated in nature was stabilized on-site and then trucked to the Port of Long Beach for use in their “Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project.” The sediment sent to the Port was stabilized using a variety of techniques including cement stabilization.
Storm Water Improvements, Culvert Cleaning, BioSwale Construction
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Start Date: September 1st, 2009
End Date: November 15th, 2010
Funders: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dispersed through the State Water Quality Control Boards; Port of Long Beach
Description:
Phase 1a was initiated in September 2009 and completed in November 2010. The first completed component was the creation of a 600-foot bioswale, constructed between the golf course and the Lagoon. This bioswale transformed a drain, which formerly transferred runoff directly to marine waters, into a phytoremediation system that is designed to filter out fertilizers and other pollutants before reaching the wetlands. Phytoremediation works by utilizing the symbiotic bacteria that naturally live in the roots of many species of aquatic plants. These bacteria have the ability to break down inorganic and organic pollutants in soils and water which allows for the plants to uptake the pollutants as part of their metabolic processes. As water passes slowly through the bioswale, the plants will remove much of the harmful nitrates, phosphates, and other chemicals used in the golf course landscaping before the pollutants enter the Lagoon.
The chief component of Phase1a was improving the area’s three largest storm drains by installing low flow diversion systems and trash separation devices. The dry weather drainage that would normally enter the Lagoon through these drains was redirected into a vault, which releases the wastewater into the sewer system during much of the year. The remaining storm drains have all been diverted as part of Los Angeles County’s ‘Termino Avenue Drain Project,’ which occurred at the same time as Phase 1a. Data indicates that the trash separation devices had an immediate impact and are reducing the amount of trash that litters the Lagoon’s banks. Weekly trash collections averaged 32.31 lbs of trash from March 2009 – November 2010, but this weight has been reduced by nearly 50% to 17.17 lbs of trash per week since the separation devices were activated in November 2010.
The last element of Phase 1a was the cleaning of the culvert connection between the Lagoon and Marine Stadium (Figure 4). This was a sensitive endeavor that required the Lagoon to be cut-off from tidal influence for nearly two weeks in order to complete the cleaning. However, the removal of three feet of marine sediment, running the entire length of the culvert, decreased the residence time of tidal waters entering the Lagoon from 8.5 days to 7.7 days, according to modeling completed by Moffat and Nichol (2010). This decrease in residence time brings the tidal flushing rate much closer to the 6.0-day residence time in Marine Stadium. However, the 1.7 day difference (which is due the culvert’s small size and perch above mean low tide) still impacts the Lagoon’s overall health, therefore more improvements to the tidal connection are be needed to bridge the gap.
End Date: November 15th, 2010
Funders: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dispersed through the State Water Quality Control Boards; Port of Long Beach
Description:
Phase 1a was initiated in September 2009 and completed in November 2010. The first completed component was the creation of a 600-foot bioswale, constructed between the golf course and the Lagoon. This bioswale transformed a drain, which formerly transferred runoff directly to marine waters, into a phytoremediation system that is designed to filter out fertilizers and other pollutants before reaching the wetlands. Phytoremediation works by utilizing the symbiotic bacteria that naturally live in the roots of many species of aquatic plants. These bacteria have the ability to break down inorganic and organic pollutants in soils and water which allows for the plants to uptake the pollutants as part of their metabolic processes. As water passes slowly through the bioswale, the plants will remove much of the harmful nitrates, phosphates, and other chemicals used in the golf course landscaping before the pollutants enter the Lagoon.
The chief component of Phase1a was improving the area’s three largest storm drains by installing low flow diversion systems and trash separation devices. The dry weather drainage that would normally enter the Lagoon through these drains was redirected into a vault, which releases the wastewater into the sewer system during much of the year. The remaining storm drains have all been diverted as part of Los Angeles County’s ‘Termino Avenue Drain Project,’ which occurred at the same time as Phase 1a. Data indicates that the trash separation devices had an immediate impact and are reducing the amount of trash that litters the Lagoon’s banks. Weekly trash collections averaged 32.31 lbs of trash from March 2009 – November 2010, but this weight has been reduced by nearly 50% to 17.17 lbs of trash per week since the separation devices were activated in November 2010.
The last element of Phase 1a was the cleaning of the culvert connection between the Lagoon and Marine Stadium (Figure 4). This was a sensitive endeavor that required the Lagoon to be cut-off from tidal influence for nearly two weeks in order to complete the cleaning. However, the removal of three feet of marine sediment, running the entire length of the culvert, decreased the residence time of tidal waters entering the Lagoon from 8.5 days to 7.7 days, according to modeling completed by Moffat and Nichol (2010). This decrease in residence time brings the tidal flushing rate much closer to the 6.0-day residence time in Marine Stadium. However, the 1.7 day difference (which is due the culvert’s small size and perch above mean low tide) still impacts the Lagoon’s overall health, therefore more improvements to the tidal connection are be needed to bridge the gap.
