Huntington Beach Wetlands Salt Marsh Bird’s Beak Outplanting

Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy was previously granted funding for the outplanting of one new population of Salt Marsh Bird’s Beak (SMBB) in Southern California at Magnolia Marsh in the Huntington Beach Wetlands. An initial experimental outplanting was performed in winter of 2015-16 and germination of 199 plants successfully occurred in the winter of 2016-17. The proposed project enabled the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy (HBWC) to expand this project by continuing monitoring activities and enhancing Magnolia Marsh’s upper marsh plant community. The project installed upper marsh plant species that can either act as a host for SMBB, attract SMBB pollinators, or help to buffer and protect SMBB populations from edge effects. This work was designed so that it could be performed by volunteer groups that helped grow, install, and care for the upper marsh plants. HBWC utilized their partnership with the Huntington Beach Tree Society that provided volunteers to grow and care for most of the container plants that were installed. They also partnered closely with Edison and Huntington Beach High Schools to have students help install and care for the plants as well as perform various maintenance activities. In addition to growing and sustaining this population of SMBB, this project assisted with the establishment of other special status plant species, including Lycium californicum, Suaeda taxifolia and Juncus acutus leopoldi. Further, the restoration of Magnolia Marsh was designed to include an interpretive trail that connects to a viewing platform. This trail already has numerous educational signs along its perimeter, and this project installed an additional sign that provided the public with information about SMBB and the goals of the project.

Photo by the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy