But it also took time to agree on the details of the land swap deal.
The two sides didn’t finalize their agreement until late last year, according to Long Beach Councilmember Kristina Duggan’s office. Duggan, who is the chair of the LCWA, announced the conservancy’s approval on Friday, Feb. 16.
While the land swap still needs a couple of more approvals, the conservancy’s OK was the biggest obstacle, according to Duggan’s office.
“Over the past year,” Duggan said in a Friday statement, “we rolled up our sleeves to come to terms on a deal that transitions 154 acres of private oil fields to beautiful coastal wetlands that can be enjoyed by everyone.”
The Los Cerritos Wetlands were once a vast marsh covering about 2,400 acres in what is now Seal Beach and Long Beach. But after decades of being drained and reduced because of development and agriculture, only about 776 acres remain.
Wetlands are epicenters of biological diversity. They provide a home to microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals.
Yet, they are disappearing from California. About 90% of the state’s historic wetlands, in fact, have disappeared, according to the California Water Quality Monitoring Council. And those that remain are threatened.
What’s left of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, for example, is also degraded. Most of it is owned privately and is an active oil field.
But in 2006, the LCWA formed as a joint-powers authority — with representatives from Long Beach and Seal Beach, the state Coastal Commission, and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservancy — with a mission is to protect and restore the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
The LCWA’s focus is a 500-acre conservation area that spans both sides of the San Gabriel River, in both Long Beach and Orange County.
The LCWA owns about 170 acres of that area. And in September, it received a $31.8 million grant from the California Coastal Conservancy to restore 103 acres of wetlands in Seal Beach.
And now, the authority is poised to gain another large swath of land — thanks to its deal with the oil company.
The conservancy’s approval, LCWA Executive Officer Mark Stanley said in a statement, “is a major step towards the LCWA’s ability to restore the wetlands and bring back a coastal and community benefit to the area.”
The deal still needs administrative approval from the state Department of General Services and the OK from the LCWA’s Board of Directors, both of which could happen in a matter of weeks, according to Duggan’s office.
But the deal is more than just a straight swap.
The Synergy Oil Field, for example, has 39 wells, 22 of which are active. Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC, will have to decommission those wells.
Initially, the oil company planned to phase out oil production there over a 20-year period. But the company has already started decommissioning the wells, according to a staff report for the California Coastal Conservancy — and operations are set to be entirely shuttered there by December 2027.
The oil company, in the final deal, also agreed to forgo plans to build 70 news wells on the 5-acre site currently owned by the LCWA, the staff report said. Instead, that site will be used to store various equipment. While not part of this deal, Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC, will now limit oil production to a 7-acre area, bordering both Pacific Coast Highway and the San Gabriel River, that has traditionally been used as a seasonal pumpkin patch.
“This historic occasion not only decommissions oil wells on the site over 15 years earlier than anticipated,” Duggan said in her statement, “but it also serves as a key milestone in our City’s transition away from oil drilling and I am proud to lead this effort.”
Under the deal, the oil company will actually be responsible for the restoration effort.
An appraisal of both swaths of land revealed that the 5 acres Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC, will receive is actually worth more than the 154 acres it will give the LCWA. That’s because land earmarked for an industrial use is considered more financially valuable than land set aside for preservation, Duggan’s office said.
Because of that, the oil company needed to offset the difference in value.
Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC, will oversee and pay for the restoration effort, and will set up a $2.2 million endowment to help the LCWA maintain and manage the property once the authority takes it over.
The project would crearte a sustainable and vibrant ecosystem, as well as educational and recreational opportunities for the community, including trails and other amenities, according to a Friday press release from Duggan’s office.
The effort would also restore the historic tidal connection to a greater portion of the wetlands and create a self-sustaining coastal wetlands habitat, including for plants and animals, across about 76.5 acres of it, according to a state-mandated environmental review that has already received approval from the Long Beach City Council. The project would restore tidal salt marsh habitat and other associated habitats to the area.
The Bixby Ranch Field Office will also be relocated and turned into a visitor’s center.
Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC, will remain the owner of the 154 acres until the restoration effort is complete.
That effort is still a ways off, though.
The restoration project can’t begin until after the wells are decommissioned, which will take about four years, said Peter Zak, project principal for Los Cerritos Wetlands, LLC. Once that’s done, the restoration project will last 12 to 18 months.
But a deal is now in place. The biggest obstacles have been overcome. And it’s just a matter of time before a large swath of wetlands are thriving once again.
“We’re encouraged with the Coastal Conservancy approval of the land exchange,” Zak said in a statement. “It will help reconnect and restore the area’s natural wetlands and allow public access to a site which has been closed to the public for decades.”
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