Chapters 1 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Refuge Resources
that provides storage for 314 boats. A 100-foot buffer is provided between the developed areas and
the adjacent wetlands. To the west of the marina is a 5.5-acre least tern nesting site maintained by
the County of Orange. Access to the area is via an existing earthen causeway.
A portion of the City of Huntington Beach abuts the Refuge at the City’s northwestern-most
corner, where commercial office development, including the Simple Green building, is located.
Further to the east in Huntington Harbour the primary land use is residential.
In general, the areas surrounding NWSSB are highly urbanized areas with about 18 million people
living within about a two-hour drive of the Refuge. NWSSB is bordered on the northwest by the
City of Long Beach in Los Angeles County and the City of Seal Beach in Orange County. To the
north is the City of Los Alamitos, to northeast the City of Garden Grove, to the east the City of
Westminster, and to the south the City of Huntington Beach. To the southwest is the Pacific
Ocean. The 300-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, managed by CDFG, is located about two
miles to the southeast, on the other side of Huntington Harbour.
The objectives and policies for the Refuge and associated marshlands as presented in the Seal
Beach General Plan (City of Seal Beach 2003) include:
Work and cooperate with federal interests to ensure preservation of this area’s natural
assets. Preserving the marshlands and wetlands in a pristine state is considered to be a
matter of significance;
Develop constructed wetlands on Navy property to improve wastewater runoff quality as it
drains to Anaheim Bay; and
Improve open space habitat on non-essential Navy acreage as buffer zones adjacent to the
Wildlife Refuge.
4.5.2 Public Safety
The military mission at NWSSB is to support the Pacific Fleet’s combat readiness and
sustainability, including safely storing and maintaining ordnance. For this reason, all refuge
related activities are generally restricted to lands within the approved Refuge boundary.
A small weapons shooting range operates on NWSSB to the southeast of the intersection of Bolsa
Avenue and Case Road. To ensure that no injuries occur in the vicinity of the facility as a result of
a stray bullet, a buffer area – the Explosive Safety Quantity Distance (ESQD) - extends southwest
from the facility onto the Refuge to just southeast of NASA Island. No activity is permitted within
this area when the shooting range is “hot” (i.e., firearms are being fired). Red flags are used to
designate a “hot” range.
As a result of historic military operations on NWSSB, there is a potential for buried and unburied
unexploded ordnance on the Refuge. To protect the safety of those working on the Refuge, all
Refuge staff and volunteers are trained in how to deal with unexploded ordnance if it is
encountered.
4.5.3 Traffic Circulation
Access to the Refuge is available via a system of local streets and regional transportation corridors
as shown in Figure 1-1 and 1-2. The closest regional transportation corridors include Interstate
405 and Pacific Coast Highway. The segment of Interstate 405 from State Highway 22 to State
Highway 55 has been identified as one of the highest congestion areas in the Los Angeles/Orange
County area. Traffic volumes on the segment of Pacific Coast Highway that extends through the
Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan/Environmental Assessment 4-87