Convair Lagoon Eelgrass and Kelp Restoration

MBC assisted a client in San Diego with implementation of the Convair Lagoon eelgrass mitigation plan. MBC transplanted a total of 23,374 eelgrass turion bundles to the site and monitored progress of the site to assess the success of the transplant effort with surveys at prescribed intervals with surveys for five years following the transplant. Due to the limit of available habitat, a mitigation shortfall could not be alleviated by simply planting additional eelgrass. A search in San Diego and nearby bays for available mitigation habitat was unsuccessful; therefore other out-of-kind mitigation options were sought. During negotiations with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, MBC designed and implemented a California least tern habitat enhancement plan to restore nesting habitat in San Diego Bay that was acceptable as out-of-kind mitigation to compensate for 0.5 acres of eelgrass restoration. 

Additionally, negotiations were conducted with the National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop alternative mitigation for another one-acre eelgrass restoration shortfall. A mitigation plan was developed and ultimately approved by the resource agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore 10 acres of giant kelp ( Macrocystis pyrifera ) at two sites in Orange County as further out-of-kind mitigation to compensate for one acre of eelgrass habitat. This plan was implemented in the summer of 2002 and resulted in the establishment of large areas of kelp by the spring of 2004. The client credit s MBC with saving them considerable costs as well as substantial penalties during the eelgrass mitigation project by negotiating out-of-kind mitigation with the resource agencies .