Free Republic

Some photos we took of some birds while we were trying to avoid the News.

SANTA BARBARA — Plans to build luxury homes on a mesa overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach won approval Thursday from the California Coastal Commission, ending a 30-year battle that saved the salt marsh from development. Hearthside Homes will build 349 houses and a park on 105 acres overlooking the 1,100-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, which is undergoing a $65-million restoration — the largest such undertaking in Southern California. The project — which has been reduced in size and scope over the years — represents what is expected to be the final skirmish over the wetlands after the...

SACRAMENTO, April 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- The California State Lands Commission voted today to grant the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a lease for the construction of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Project. The project will restore 880 acres of oil fields to their natural wetlands habitat and will act as a haven to fish and wildlife. The restored wetlands will also serve as a recreation site for visitors and residents of Huntington Beach, Calif. The Commission also voted to send a letter to President George W. Bush reiterating its position of support for a moratorium on new oil and gas...