California's Largest Wetlands Project

"Once slated to be developed into an oceanfront housing tract, the wetlands were spared by environmentalists who lobbied for both money and political support to restore the marshland...The restoration project included scooping out 2 million cubic yards of sediment and building jetties, two bridges spanning the 360-foot-wide inlet, and several public viewing areas...

...Now linked to the ocean, the wetlands area along Pacific Coast Highway will rise and fall with the ebb and flow of the tide. The ocean water, biologists say, will be a fast-acting medicine, bringing marine life and additional migratory birds back to the wetlands.

The wetlands already are home to roughly 200 species of birds, including threatened ones, such as the California least tern and the light-footed clapper rail.

The restoration work undoes the effort of turn-of-the-century duck hunters who walled off the ocean in an effort to create ponds to make it easier to catch their prey...Now, wetlands are recognized as vital filters for urban runoff, stopovers for migrating birds and habitats for endangered species...

At one time, as many as 4,884 homes were proposed for the wetlands, which developers argued were so degraded they were beyond any restoration effort."