Local Non-Profit Awarded $79,000 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Maintain and Expand Habitat Restoration at the Esplanade Bluffs

Redondo Beach, CA, September 14, 2022 - South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC) is pleased to announce the recent award of $79,000 in grant funding by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain and expand habitat restoration at the Esplanade Bluffs. Since 2004, the South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC) has been committed to preserving, enhancing, and expanding parkland in the coastal cities of the South Bay. This project continues the expansion of the Beach Bluff Restoration Project that targets dune and bluff habitat restoration from Palos Verdes Peninsula to Ballona Creek.  

“South Bay Parkland Conservancy is honored to receive this grant award and to play a key role in expanding native habitat for species such as the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly,” said Jim Montgomery, SBPC Project Lead and Board Member.

In 2020, SBPC joined a current restoration effort led by the LA Conservation Corps from Miramar Park to the Avenue I beach ramp. During this time SBPC established community participation contributing to an increase in work hours on maintenance (i.e., weeding, irrigation, and supplemental planting) and accelerating expansion of the restored El Segundo blue butterfly habitat. Previous SBPC-led volunteer efforts include the ongoing re-wilding of Hopkins Wilderness Park and the Esplanade Bluff Garden at Esplanade and Avenue A. 

This specific project and funding will expand the Redondo Beach bluff section of the overall project up to the Avenue C beach stairs.  Over the next five years, SBPC will work with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to remove invasive ice plant and other exotic and invasive species and replace them with dune and bluff habitat eventually covering 6.9 acres. In parallel, SBPC will support LA Conservation Corps’ ongoing expansion from Avenue I to Avenue G.  In a parallel project, SBPC is adding El Segundo blue butterfly and monarch butterfly habitat on the Greenbelt in Hermosa Beach.  Eventually, SBPC’s goal is to provide a linked corridor of habitat from Palos Verdes to the Manhattan Beach dunes project being led by the Bay Foundation.

The bluff restoration project to date has been a great success.  El Segundo blue butterflies have already returned to the restored project area and have been documented all the way to Avenue I.  

Interested volunteers can sign up here