Location: Orange County
Project Type: Restoration Planning
Status: Completed
Habitat Type: Riparian
Cost: $429,000
Area Affected: 45 acres
Project Footprint: 934 ft stream miles
Assembly District: 74
Senate District: 37
Congressional District: 48
Project Lead/Grantee:
City of Newport Beach & Community Conservation International (Esther Feldman 310-375-0797)
For more information, visit scwrp.org
This project completed final engineering and design work for the restoration plan for Big Canyon Creek, a tributary to Upper Newport Bay. The project addressed wetland habitat, water quality, drainage and hydrologic issues, storm drain problems, tidal wetland exchange needs, sedimentation, long-term system sustainability, and public access. The restoration plan also addressed drainage problems and water quality contamination from pollution from Big Canyon County Club golf course, bluffside homes, and impervious urban watershed area.
Big Canyon Creek Watershed covers approximately 1,280 acres and drains directly into Upper Newport Bay. The creek flows from southeast to northwest through the 60-acre Big Canyon Creek Nature Park, ultimately draining into Upper Newport Bay. The lower portion of Big Canyon is within the Upper Newport Bay State Ecological Reserve. Big Canyon is the only natural, undeveloped portion of the Big Canyon Creek watershed, and the only significant remaining natural canyon on the east side of Newport Bay.
