Development Hazards to Bolsa Chica

* I was disturbed, but not surprised, to read about red foxes and kestrels preying on the least terns at Bolsa Chica (“Fox In The Tern House,� June 3). As a graduate student in biology at Cal State Long Beach in the 1980s, I assisted in monitoring the least tern colonies along our coast. Kestrels, red foxes and domestic cats all prey on least terns.

If the plan by the Koll Real Estate Group to build almost 5,000 homes at Bolsa Chica is approved, the predation problems will only get worse.

Currently, kestrels can also find prey on the undeveloped Bolsa Chica mesa. However, if the mesa is covered by houses and condominiums, the kestrels and other hawks which currently forage on the mesa will find the least tern chicks more attractive.

Domestic cats brought in by the residents will also cause big problems for all of the ground-nesting birds at Bolsa Chica--not just the least terns.

While I was monitoring a colony of terns at Terminal Island, one cat killed six adult least terns in two nights. Of course, when the adults are killed the chicks then die of starvation, if they are not first killed by cats or other predators.

The mesas are an important part of the ecosystem at Bolsa Chica. I doubt that the wetlands will continue to function and support the diversity of life that currently exists if the Bolsa Chica mesa is destroyed by development.

CONNIE BOARDMAN

Huntington Beach

* Your editorial (“Bolsa Chica Plan Must Strive for Balance� May 15) suggests pragmatic negotiations between the Koll Construction Co. and those who would protect the Bolsa Chica from development as a solution to the problem of wetlands versus development. We, the protectors of the wetlands, see a swap of thousands of acres of public or formerly military-owned lands for 1,700 acres of irreplaceable wetlands and buffer zones to keep the endangered-species habitats safe, as just such a pragmatic land swap.

The people of Orange County and Southern California need more affordable housing--not waterfront, gated mansions or exclusive communities. We should not have to give up recreational, open-space land to make millionaires into billionaires.

BRUCE MONROE

Sierra Club Preserve Bolsa Chica

Task Force and the Sea and Sage chapter

of the Audubon Society

GORDEN LEBETZ

Surfrider Foundation

Long Beach/North Orange

County Chapter

GEORGE MITCHELL

Huntington Beach Tomorrow

BUCK MARRS

Seacliff Homeowner’s Assn.