This is a photo gallery assembled in December 2021 that includes photographs taken on several visits to the Reserve in 2002 and 2004. The Reserve is adjacent to the city of Huntington Beach and is a coastal estuary of approximately 1,300 acres with habitats including open water, mudflats, salt marsh, coastal dunes, seabird nesting islands, riparian, and freshwater marsh, and a four-mile public hiking trail. It is clearly a location that is typically more attractive to bird-lovers than botanists and about 200 avian species have been identified there. Part of the Reserve itself is closed to the public due to active oil and gas production by California Resources Corporation. In Spanish bolsa chica means "little bag" and derives from its inclusion in a historic Mexican land grant named Rancho La Bolsa Chica, but its history goes much farther back than that as is attested to by the finding by archeologists of 8,000-year old cog stones fashioned by the indigenous peoples who lived there. Its history also includes the duck hunters of the Bolsa Chica Gun Club, the 155mm gun turrets mounted on the mesa to defend California in the 1940's, and the significant organization called Amigos de Bolsa Chica which waged a 20-year battle to preserve the area and continues its conservation efforts today. Because of its proximity to developed areas, there are many more introduced species of plants there than would be found in most places, and that is reflected in this photo gallery. Also as might be expected the family Chenopodiaceae is well represented including at least seven species of Atriplex. The surrounding area, as the last picture on page 3 shows, leaves much to be desired scenically. I want to go back next year to see how much it has changed over the intervening time since I was last there.

Beach morning glory
Calystegia soldanella
Convolvulaceae

Coast goldenbush
Isocoma menziesii var. vernonioides
Asteraceae
[Named for Archibald Menzies, 1754-1842]

Beach primrose
Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia ssp. suffruticosa
Onagraceae

Pacific pickleweed
Salicornia pacifica
Chenopodiaceae

Spiny rush
Juncus acutus ssp. leopoldii
Juncaceae
[Named for Leopoldo di Borbone-Due Sicilie, 1813-1860]

Glasswort
Arthrocnemum subterminale
Chenopodiaceae

Cordgrass
Spartina foliosa
Poaceae