1. Public Involvement WorkshopPublic Involvement Workshop
March 20, 2014March 20, 2014

2. • Workshop Goal:
– Present Analysis of 3 conceptual restoration designs and
invite questions
• Workshop Objectives:
Public Involvement Workshop #6
Theme: Life
Mascot: Western Snowy Plover
Color: Light Green
• Workshop Objectives:
1. Update Conceptual Restoration Plan’s progress
2. Share 3 conceptual restoration designs
3. Present results of Alternative Analysis
4. Answer questions
• Workshop Ground Rules

3. Conceptual Restoration Plan Progress Update
Planning Process
1. Collect data on existing conditions
2. Compile and analyze opportunities and constraints to
restoration
3. Meet with the Public to brainstorm potential restoration3. Meet with the Public to brainstorm potential restoration
alternatives
4. Determine preliminary restoration alternatives
5. Meet with Technical Advisory Committee and Public to
identify final alternatives
6. Analyze each of the final restoration alternatives
7. Report results of restoration alternatives analyses and
summarize the project findings

4. Land Ownership of Entire LCW Complex
Studebaker LLC

5. In February of 2006, a joint powers agreement was
adopted among the:
Rivers & Mountains Conservancy, State Coastal Conservancy,
& Cities of Long Beach & Seal Beach
Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority
=
These agencies comprise the project’s Steering Committee

6. Project Organization Chart
Community Technical Advisory
Steering Committee:
RMC, Coastal Conservancy,
Cities of Seal and Long Beach
Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority:
Project Manager
Consulting Team
Community
Stakeholders
Public
Involvement
Plan
Technical Advisory
Committee
Staff from
Applicable Public
Agencies

7. Technical Advisory Committee
Members of each of these organizations provide regular
advising throughout this project:
• Rivers and Mountains Conservancy
• California Coastal Conservancy
• City of Long Beach
• City of Seal Beach
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service
• Counties of Los Angeles & Orange• Counties of Los Angeles & Orange
• US Army Corps Of Engineers
• Regional Water Quality Control Board
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• California Coastal Commission
• State Lands Commission
• Southern California Water Resources Research Project
• Port of Long Beach
• Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission
• CSU Long Beach, Dept of Biological Sciences

11. • Workshop Goal was:
– Present 3 conceptual restoration designs
• Workshop Objectives:
Public Involvement Workshop #5
Theme: Fire
Mascot: Coulter’s Goldfield
Color: Red
• Workshop Objectives:
– Update on Conceptual Restoration Plan’s progress
– Share 3 conceptual restoration designs
– Discuss NEXT STEPS
– Perform workshop activity to generate feedback on
restoration design alternatives
• Workshop Ground Rules

12. Alt 1
•Minor changes to existing oil infrastructure
•Utilize/improve existing tidal connections
•Minor grading
•Transitional & upland habitat along
perimeters
•Potential interpretive sites on OTD and/or
State lands parcels
Note: trail locations are in draft form

13. Alt 2
•Consolidate oil infrastructure
•New tidal connections to SGR and Haynes
•Steam Shovel Slough expansion
•Moderate grading
•Transitional & upland habitat along
perimeters
•Potential interpretive sites on OTD and/or
State lands parcels
Note: trail locations are in draft form

14. Alt 3
•Consolidate oil infrastructure
•New tidal connections to SGR, Haynes, &
Los Cerritos Channel
•Fill & Grading of OC Retention Basin
•Significant grading to remove fill material
and create contiguous tidal channels
•Maximizes tidal salt marsh habitat
•Potential interpretive sites on OTD and/or
State lands parcels
Note: trail locations are in draft form

15. Alternatives Analyses
Primary processes analyzed and reported tonight are:
• Hydrology
• Habitat
• Public access
Additional items addressed in the reportAdditional items addressed in the report
• Preliminary engineering designs
• Infrastructure changes
• Phasing
• Possible construction methods
• Maintenance
• Consistency with project goals and objectives

16. Results of the Analyses
• Hydrology – Chris Webb
• Habitat – Matt James
• Public Access/Interpretive Opportunities – Clark Stevens• Public Access/Interpretive Opportunities – Clark Stevens

17. Hydrology
Moffatt & Nichol
Chris Webb

18. Sub-Areas

19. Grading Plans
Cross-Sections

20. Tidal Elevations and Ranges
All Scenarios, No Sea Level Rise (Existing Sea
Level)

21. Tidal Elevations and Ranges
All Scenarios, +1.5 Feet of Sea Level Rise

22. Tidal Elevations and Ranges
All Scenarios, +5.5 Feet of Sea Level Rise

23. Tidal Hydrology – Tidal Inundation Frequency
At Steam Shovel Slough, Existing Sea Level

24. TIF Relates to Elevation –
Determines
Habitat Distributions and
Areas – Alt 1, North and
Central Areas, Existing Sea
Level

25. Alt 1, Isthmus and
Southeast Area,
Existing Sea Level

26. Habitat Distributions–
Alt 1, North and
Central Areas, Sea
Level Rise of +1.5
Feet

27. Alt 1, Isthmus and
Southeast Area, Sea Level
Rise of +1.5 Feet

28. Habitat Distributions –
Alt 1, North and
Central Areas, Sea
Level Rise of +5.5 Feet

29. Alt 1, Isthmus and Southeast
Area, Sea Level Rise of +5.5
Feet

30. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Existing Sea Level

31. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area, Existing Sea Level

32. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Sea Level Rise of 1.5’

33. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area,
Sea Level Rise of 1.5’

34. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Sea Level Rise of 5.5’

35. Alt 2 - Moderate Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area,
Sea Level Rise of 5.5’

36. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Existing Sea Level

37. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area,
Existing Sea Level

38. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Sea Level Rise of 1.5’

39. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area,
Sea Level Rise of 1.5’

40. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Northern and Central Areas,
Sea Level Rise of 5.5’

41. Alt 3 - Maximum Alt
Isthmus and Southeast
Area,
Sea Level Rise of 5.5’

42. Tidal Hydrology Data Used to Analyze Habitat
• Habitat Distributions
• Habitat Areas
• Habitat Evolution Under Sea Level Rise

43. Habitats
Coastal Restoration Consultants
Matt James and Dave Hubbard

44. Habitat Modeling
• Practical questions
– How does SLR affect habitat distributions?
– How does plumbing affect habitats?
– How do alternatives differ?
• Philosophical questions
– What is the ideal mix of habitats today?
– In 50yrs?
– In 100yrs?

45. Modeled Habitats
Habitat Categories Examples
Sub-tidal Deep, shallow and eelgrass
Mudflat Unvegetated
Low marsh Cordgrass
Mid marsh Pickleweed, marsh plain
High marsh Glasswort, salt panne
Transition zone Wetland-upland ecotone
Upland Dune, CSS, grassland
Mixed freshwater wetland Seasonal, bioswales, riparian
Brackish marsh Artificial, natural?
Oil operations Roads and pads, unvegetated

46. SLR Resilience

47. Current Sea Level

48. +1.5 Feet SLR

49. +5.5 Feet SLR

50. Lesson #1: Sea Level Rise
• Moderate SLR
– Topography sufficient to provide resilience
– Thoughtful grading of adjacent uplands
• Significant SLR
– Topography not sufficient for adaption to 5.5 ft. of SLR– Topography not sufficient for adaption to 5.5 ft. of SLR
– Big temporal tradeoffs – wetlands now or in the future
– Sedimentation will be needed to preserve current salt marshes
over the next 100 years

51. Tidal Connections: Culverts

52. -4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Series1
Series2
Series3
6
8
10
12
Series1
Series2
Current Sea Level
+5.5 ft. SLR
-5
-4
0
2
4
6
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Series2
Series3
+1.5 ft. SLR
San Gabriel River
Node 2

53. Non-linear Habitat Conversion

54. Lesson #2: Culverts
• Must be carefully designed
• Likely to lead to muted and perched tides
– Culvert size and invert elevation
– Narrowing and elimination of habitat zones
• Adequate designs now might not be adequate with SLR• Adequate designs now might not be adequate with SLR
• Habitat conversion may not behave linearly with SLR
(models may not be sufficient)
• Open channels generally don’t have these issues

55. Three Alternatives: Summary

56. Sub-tidal
Mudflat
Low marsh
Mid marsh
High marsh
Transition zoneTransition zone
Upland
Mixed FW
wetland
Brackish marsh
Oil operations

57. Minimum Alternative
• Resilient to moderate SLR
• Culverts = funky hydrology
• Fragmented habitats
• “Unnatural” topography
• Compatible with oil operations?• Compatible with oil operations?
– Raising roads/pads = filling wetlands?
– Vegetation-free buffers?

58. Moderate Alternative
• Resilient to moderate SLR*
• Some resilience to significant SLR*
• More salt marsh than Minimum Alt at current sea level
• More natural topography than Minimum Alt

59. Maximum Alternative
• Maximization of salt marsh habitat
• Most sub-tidal and mudflat
• Generally steep wetland-upland transitions
• Significant loss of high marsh and transition habitat
with moderate SLRwith moderate SLR
• Significant loss of vegetated marsh with significant SLR

60. Lesson #3: Preferred Alternative?
• Best design is probably a blending of different aspects of
different alternatives
• Not all possibilities captured
– More sub-tidal (fish, turtles, some birds)
– Entire levee removal– Entire levee removal
– Hydro connection between north and central areas

61. Lots of Project-specific Fine Tuning Still Needed
• Soil contamination
• Soil texture
– Will it need to be amended? Import good soil?
• Groundwater
• Beneficial re-use of graded soils on site?• Beneficial re-use of graded soils on site?

62. Public Access
New West Land Company
Clark Stevens

63. FLOWS: Existing Perimeter and Interior Circulation

64. Connectivity and Fragmentation

65. Urban connectivity primary

66. Interpretive Center + Habitat Corridor + Revenue

67. Urban connectivity primary

68. Heron Pointe to Zedler: Interior Path Opportunity

70. Habitat function primary

71. Urban connectivity primary

72. FLOW + IDENTITY: Blurring the Boundaries

73. MARKETPLACE MARSH- Learning Landscape

74. Habitat function primary

75. Habitat function primary

76. Urban connectivity primary

77. Habitat function primary

78. Habitat function primary

79. Urban connectivity primary

86. Next Steps
• Finalize report that presents the restoration
alternatives analyses and summarizes the project
findingsfindings
• Prepare project for preliminary engineering and
subsequent environmental review

87. Intoloscerritoswetlands.org

88. Closing / Leave BehindFinal Questions?Final Questions?
Visit:
intoloscerritoswetlands.org
or
Contact:
info@tidalinfluence.com