Community Corner

Experts: Los Cerritos Wetlands Will Recover from Today's Fire

Nearby development and trash, however, post a bigger threat.

About 50 acres of the Los Cerritos Wetlands damaged today in a wind-driven fire will be able to recover from the scorching flames, a restoration ecologist said, warning that invasive plants, nearby development and trash pose a greater long-term risk.

Restoration of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, which is located in East Long Beach on the border of Los Angeles County and Orange County, is underway by a coalition of several agencies.

The Los Cerritos Wetlands are near the mouth of the San Gabriel River and used to cover 2,400 acres, but now only span 776 acres.

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While fires in wetlands are unusual, restoration ecologist Taylor Parker said nature has the ability to bounce back.

"What it has less of an ability to respond to are the chronic problems," Parker said, pointing to trash left behind by visitors and from upstream. He also said nearby development and non-native invasive species pose greater harm.

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The wetlands are home to several threatened and endangered plant and animal species, including the California least terns, the pacific green sea turtles, Belding's Savannah sparrows, southern tarplant, Coulter's goldfields, Lewis' evening primrose and California boxthorns.

"It's their home," Parker said. "It's the last place where they have to live. A lot of these plants and animals they can only live along the coasts in Southern California for a variety of reasons."

Christine Whitcraft, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Cal State Long Beach, said that fire and its impacts to a wetlands has not been studied much because it is considered unusual.

Nearby development disrupting the flow of the wetlands and California's drought have led to drier conditions than in years past, Whitcraft said.

"When we get down in the wetland soil, we do see drier conditions in the soil," Whitcraft said.

The level of salinity in the soil is also increased due to hot, dry days that evaporated much of the water, Whitcraft said.

"That certainly will trickle down to plants and animals that live in the wetlands," Whitcraft said.

The fire in the Los Cerritos Wetlands could impact the water quality and the erosion patterns there, she said.

"It offers a great opportunity to sort of understand how sad it is for the businesses and people around affected by fires, but then also talk about how valuable our ecosystems are to an urban location," Whitcraft said.

--City News Service


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