2008 Annual Monitoring Report (pdf 10.9MB) - Bolsa Chica ...

Bolsa Chica Lowlands Restoration Monitoring
2008 Annual Report
The State Lands Commission contracted Merkel & Associates, Inc. (M&A) and its team to implement
the first three years of the Biological and Beach Monitoring Plans. The monitoring team included
Merkel & Associates, Moffatt & Nichol Engineers, Coastal Frontiers, and Chambers Group, Inc. The
FTB was opened to the ocean on August 24, 2006, with additional remedial construction activities
continuing to address various shoreline stabilization issues. Contracting was not in place to initiate
immediate monitoring until late 2006. However the Year 2 biological monitoring was initiated on
schedule in Fall 2007. The annual monitoring reports will be prepared by calendar year but will
include data collected by monitoring year, which is based on a schedule starting in October 2006.
Therefore the first monitoring report included all data collected from November 2006 through
December 2007, capturing all monitoring conducted under Year 1 of the monitoring program (October
2006 to September 2007), as well as the first quarter of Year 2 (October to December 2007) (M&A
2008a). This second monitoring report includes all data collected from January to December 2008,
capturing the last three quarters of Year 2 (through September 2008) and the first quarter of Year 3
(October to December 2008). A schedule of monitoring activities and reporting is presented for
clarification (Figure 0-2).
This document serves as the annual report for 2008. It is divided into three primary sections:
Ecological Monitoring, Physical Monitoring, and Dredging Analysis. Copies of prior reports are
posted on-line at www.bolsachicarestoration.org.
In additional to the schedule in Figure 0-2, a table summarizing the dates of each field event during
2008 is provided in Appendix 1-A.
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL REFERENCE DATA
The vertical datum used throughout this document is North American Vertical Datum of 1988
(NAVD88), with units expressed in meters. For purposes of equating this datum to recognized
biological zonation patterns in tidal marine systems, NAVD88 roughly equates to Mean Lower Low
Water (MLLW). More precisely, at the project site, NAVD88 lies approximately 0.06 m (0.2 feet)
above National Ocean Service (NOS) MLLW and 0.79 m (2.6 feet) below NOS Mean Sea Level
(MSL; NOS, 2007).
Horizontally geo-referenced data are in meters relative to California State Plane Zone 6, North
American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83). Area measurements are presented in hectares, with conversions
to acres provided due to the greater ease with which many readers can envision areas in this unit of
measurement. Additionally, discussion of sediment accumulation and dredging volumes are presented
in cubic meters, with conversions to cubic yards due to the prevalence of this unit in the commercial
dredging field.
DEFINITIONS AND GEOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
To assist the reader, this section has been provided to serve as a reference for terminology and
abbreviations used in this report. In addition, this section includes a map of the Bolsa Chica Lowlands
and surroundings labeled with place names to assist in following discussions that are geographically
referenced to particular areas within the site (Figure 0-1).
Merkel & Associates, Inc. 13