Now that we-the-people own so many more acres of the Los Cerritos Wetlands, now that we have invested so much of our effort and perseverance and emotion to save them, standing on the edge of this crucial natural resource and scanning its inscrutable surface feels so truly … different—yeah … one hell of a lot different—than we imagined it would feel to finally have a beautiful swatch of Mother Nature’s perfection in our protective custody, forever available as inspiration for our daily meditation.

“Why? Why? Why?” we wonder, recognizing the vaguely haunting thirst of our dissatisfaction, beginning to suspect it may be unquenchable. Yet we determinedly search for the answer in these precious wetlands … a lot of which are bone dry, probably because of all the landfill … and sprouting weeds and palm trees where we assumed there’d be native vegetation … and scribbled with pipes and roads to accommodate the oil wells and workers … and … slowly the answer dawns on us—or more accurately, dawns from us, since we knew the answer all along, deep down inside. “Oh, yeeaahh,” we hear ourselves say, acknowledging the answer, letting it out. “These are degraded wetlands!” 

Which is to say, there is a lot more work to do. As it turns out, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority (LCWA) is holding its fourth public workshop tonight at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where consultants from Moffat & Nichol will present various restoration plans that are being considered the Los Cerritos Wetlands. Everyone is invited to take a look at the alternatives developed so far and give a little feedback going forward.

Let the upgrades begin!

LOS CERRITOS WETLANDS CONCEPTUAL RESTORATION PLAN WORKSHOP AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC 100 AQUARIUM WAY LONG BEACH 90802 PARKING FREE IN WITH VALIDATION IN PARKING STRUCTURE LCWETLANDS.ORG INTOLOSCERRITOSWETLANDS.ORG  6:30PM FREE