Upper Newport Ecological Preserve

If you could step back 100 years to early California, rivers would flow freely into saltwater marshes like Ballona Creek Marsh and others that once ran from Newport Bay to where the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles lie today. The wetland habitat of mud and sand and saltwater, fed by the ebb and flow of the tides, would be teeming with waterfowl and fish. On a recent spring morning in the bay of San Quintin in Baja California, you might think you had taken that step back in time.

If you could step back 100 years to early California, rivers would flow freely into saltwater marshes like Ballona Creek Marsh and others that once ran from Newport Bay to where the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles lie today. The wetland habitat of mud and sand and saltwater, fed by the ebb and flow of the tides, would be teeming with waterfowl and fish. On a recent spring morning in the bay of San Quintin in Baja California, you might think you had taken that step back in time.

Guided walking tours of the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve are being offered today by Friends of Newport Bay. The tours will cover about a mile of Upper Newport Bay, with stops for exhibits and talks on the area's history. Small tour groups will depart from the corner of Eastbluff Drive and Backbay Drive every 10 or 15 minutes, beginning at 9 a.m. The last tour will start at 10:15 a.m.

The Planning Commission tonight will consider a controversial county plan to restrict public access to Upper Newport Bay Regional Park and restore its wildlife habitat. The commission discussed the plan two weeks ago but delayed a decision to get more input from residents and county harbor, beach and park officials.

Police are searching for three boys they say shot several paint-ball pellets at a Newport Beach in-line skater Sunday, causing him to fall and crack his head on the concrete. The skater, Gary Holdren, 54, remains in critical condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. He was shot with the pellets while skating around the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve about 1:30 p.m.

An in-line skater believed to be in his 50s was critically injured Sunday in Newport Beach when he fell and struck his head on a concrete path after being pelted by paintballs fired from a nearby bluff, police said. The unidentified victim was rushed to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where surgeons operated on him for life-threatening injuries, said Newport Beach Police Lt. Mike Jackson. Police discovered the fallen man about 1:30 p.m.

After deleting two proposed restrictions on recreational use of Upper Newport Bay Regional Park, the Planning Commission last week approved a county plan for developing the grassy meadow. Several dozen residents crowded into the City Council chambers to argue for removal of proposed restrictions on horseback riding or walking dogs. The county had proposed making the park off limits to horses and people walking dogs, and limiting use to all others between 7 a.m. and sunset.

Because of more than half a dozen landslides along the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve, city officials have sealed off scenic Backbay Drive to all traffic for at least a month while crews clean up the area. The heavy rains that fell earlier this month soaked the hillsides along Upper Newport Bay, triggering nine landslides. The worst occurred Friday night, when about 2,000 cubic yards of dirt collapsed onto Backbay Drive and almost trapped a bicyclist, officials said.

Looking for campfire stories, roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate? The California Department of Fish and Game and the Orange County Harbors, Beaches and Parks may have just what you need. The groups offered a nature program recently at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve in Newport Beach. Before a rapt crowd of children and adults, paleontologist Steve Conkling explained 60 million years of Back Bay history.

A Newport Beach in-line skater who was critically injured last month after being struck by paint-ball pellets, causing him to fall and strike his head, was declared dead Saturday. Gary M. Holdren, 54, had been in a coma at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo since March 24, when he was shot by several assailants while skating at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve. On Sunday, more than 50 relatives and friends held a memorial walk for Holdren where he fell.

Orange County supervisors on Wednesday reversed an earlier vote and decided not to erase from the maps a stretch of University Drive in the Santa Ana Heights area that has been proposed but unbuilt for the last 30 years. On April 8, Supervisor Thomas F. Riley proposed deleting the stretch of University Drive between Irvine Avenue and Jamboree Boulevard, contending that the proposal had drawn strong opposition from many groups. The supervisors routinely gave approval.