Chapters 1 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Refuge Resources
4.1.3 Historic Setting
In the 1890s, the 55-mile-long coastline along the western boundary of Los Angeles and Orange
counties included seven major coastal wetlands collectively supporting over 17,300 acres of salt
marsh, tidal channel, mudflat, and salt pan habitat (Figure 4-2 and Table 4-1). One of these
wetlands was Anaheim Bay. Anaheim Bay and its associated salt marsh complex occupied an area
of approximately 2,300 acres in 1875 (Figure 4-3). Several creeks, including Anaheim Creek,
emptied into the bay from the north providing important seasonal freshwater flows.
Table 4-1
Historical Acreages of Coastal Los Angeles
and Orange County Wetlands*
Wetland Area (acres)
Newport Bay 2,350
Santa Ana River Marsh 2,950
Bolsa Bay 2,300
Anaheim Bay 2,300
New River Slough (Alamitos Bay) 2,400
San Pedro Bay 3,450
Ballona Bay 1,550
Total 17,300
*Acreages obtained from a series of topographic sheets covering
areas surveyed in 1894. Source: (CDFG and USFWS 1976)
The first major change to Anaheim Bay occurred in the 1860’s when a small boat port was created
at the entrance to the bay. This area was known as Anaheim Landing. In 1904, the Pacific Electric
Railway constructed a rail line along what is now the alignment of Pacific Coast Highway, just to
the south of the Refuge (CDFG and FWS 1976). Between the 1870’s and the 1940’s Anaheim Bay
was used primarily for hunting and fishing (U.S. Navy 2011). Photographs taken in the 1920s of
the area now occupied by the Refuge and Naval Weapons Station indicate that some portions of
Anaheim Bay were likely filled to support agricultural uses prior to the Navy’s acquisition of the
land (Figure 4-4).
Major changes to the bay occurred following the Navy’s acquisition of the property in 1944 when
the harbor and wharves were constructed at the entrance to the bay. Other portions of the
wetlands were altered to construct roads, dikes, islands, magazines, and other fills needed to
support the general activities of an ammunition depot (U.S. Navy 1988). In 1954, a private
company that held the mineral rights for the area below Anaheim Bay filled approximately 6.5
acres of wetland near the center of Anaheim Bay to create a base from which oil and natural gas
could be extracted. The most significant changes to Anaheim Bay began in the 1960s, when
more than 850 acres of salt marsh habitat located adjacent to present day NWSSB were
acquired by the Huntington Harbour Corporation to build a marine-oriented residential
development. The dredging and filling that began in 1961 and lasted for 14 years developed all
of the wetlands that historically occurred to the east of Sunset Beach (CDFG and FWS 1976).
Another 63 acres of marshland, property declared surplus land by the Navy, was sold to
Orange County in 1962. Much of this land was subsequently developed into a marina, resulting
in the further reduction of the historic Anaheim Bay wetlands. Figure 4-5 illustrates the
changes that have occurred in Anaheim Bay between 1873 and 1976.
Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan/Environmental Assessment 4-3