Chapters 1 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Chapter 4
At present, there are approximately 40 areas of salt marsh habitat (representing a combined total
of 12,000 acres) located along the Southern California Bight between Point Conception and just
south of the Mexican border (including the Channel Islands) (U.S. Navy 2011). Many of these
coastal wetlands are either permanently closed or frequently closed to tidal influence primarily as
a result of human disturbance. Anaheim Bay is one of the wetland systems that remains
permanently open to tidal flushing, which increases the significance of this wetland within the
region. As a result of daily tidal flushing, this wetland supports a high diversity of salt marsh plant
species, including a number of low marsh species, such as cordgrass, annual pickleweed
(Salicornia bigelovii), and saltwort (Batis maritima), that are generally absent from nontidal
wetland systems. Similarly, this site likely supports a greater diversity of fish and benthic
organisms that in turn support a diverse and abundant array of migratory and resident birds and
larger marine organisms. The inclusion of the Refuge within a military facility ensures minimal
human disturbance to the migratory birds and other resident waterbirds supported on the Refuge.
Maintaining such a protected site along the Orange County coast is important because of the
limited number of coastal wetland complexes remaining and the level of disturbance occurring
within several of these areas.
In the 1890s, over 12,300 acres of salt marsh, tidal channel, mudflat, and salt pan habitat occurred
along the Orange County coastline. Today, only seven remnants of these much larger wetland
complexes remain. Some of these remaining wetland areas, such as the Anaheim Bay marsh
complex and Upper Newport Bay, although reduced in size, still retain a general sense of their
historic configuration. Other areas, such as Bolsa Chica, the Hellman Ranch wetlands, and the
Huntington Beach wetlands have been or are currently part of extensive restoration actions; while
portions of the Los Cerritos and Banning Ranch wetlands are in need of restoration to improve
habitat quality and remediate years of human impacts to these historic wetland areas. Although
these wetlands are not connected, together they represent a significant resource for the tens of
thousands of migratory birds that forage, nest, and winter along the southern California coast, as
well as for the array of marine organisms, particularly fish, that live along the coast and use these
areas for foraging and nursery areas.
In 1876, the area from what is now Seal Beach Boulevard southeast to Warner Avenue and from
about the location of Pacific Coast Highway to just north of Forrestal Avenue consisted of an
expansive salt marsh plain crossed by estuaries, rivulets and shallow tidal basins (refer to Figure
4-3). Today, the Anaheim Bay-Huntington Harbour wetland area, which encompasses
approximately 1,255 acres, is all that remains of the estimated 2,300 acres of the historical wetlands
that were mapped at this location in 1876. Approximately 748 acres of these remaining wetlands
are protected within the Seal Beach NWR. The events that led to the loss of a large portion of the
historical Anaheim Bay wetlands are summarized in Section 4.1.1.
4.3.2 Regional Conservation Planning
4.3.2.1 Ecoregion/Landscape Conservation Cooperative Planning
Seal Beach NWR is located within the Southern California Ecoregion, as designated by the
Service. This ecoregion includes distinct coastal and desert components, a rare combination of
diverse habitat types, and one of the Nation’s highest concentrations of threatened and
endangered species.
Seal Beach NWR is also included within the California LCC, which is divided into several subunits.
The Coastal Southern Subunit, in which Seal Beach is included, covers the coastal mountain ranges
of central California, southern California and northern Mexico, lands between the Mojave Desert
4-38 Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge