OFG partners with the city to transform Long Beach’s waterfront

The Long Beach waterfront spans 11 miles, drawing locals and tourists alike to bike, walk, and boat along its shoreline. What was once extensive coastal wetlands has largely been developed into marinas fortified with rip-rap and seawalls, while water circulation has been greatly reduced by the offshore breakwater. These coastal wetlands used to function as a natural filter at the end of the watershed, sponging up rainfall, sediment, and nutrients before water flowed out to the ocean. With this natural barrier gone, we need to utilize our existing landscapes to restore these ecosystem functions, protecting water quality and adding resilience to the coastline. 

All of the city's beloved coastal recreation areas are managed by the Marine Bureau, a part of the city's Parks, Recreation, & Marine Department. Earlier this year, our chapter had the opportunity to collaborate with the Marine Bureau and the Long Beach Utilities Water Conservation Department to install an Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) pilot project. 

This pilot project and partnership led to the creation of 3 new Ocean Friendly Gardens this year along the city's waterfront, with more projects planned for 2025. These demonstration OFGs are along busy bike paths and walkways, and open for the public to experience and enjoy.

With the hard work of our amazing volunteers, our first project along the Shoreline Village bike path was a success! We removed water-guzzling grass, created a rain garden, and planted 104 native plants. The storage shed next to the OFG got new gutters to direct the runoff into a new flow-through planter and ultimately into the rain garden basin.

In just a few months, the new OFG began to bloom and attract native pollinators, like blue-striped sand wasps and gray hairstreak butterflies. These pollinators were especially attracted to the blooms of red buckwheat, one of the Channel Islands species featured in the garden. 

pollinators like sand wasps and gray hairstreak butterflies visit the red buckwheat in bloom

The National Surfrider Summit was held in Long Beach this year, and our OFG project happened to be within walking distance of the conference. We trekked out there with volunteers from across our grassroots network to chat about OFGs, community collaboration, and how nature-based solutions can help us create a better, greener world while protecting clean water. 

Surfrider volunteers from across the country toured our pilot project at Shoreline Village

After the successful pilot project at Shoreline Village, we tackled the roundabout outside the Marine Bureau's HQ office, turning the flat landscape into hills and valleys ready to soak up rainfall and prevent runoff.

The deep roots of the native rye plants in the basin create a healthy soil sponge underground, supporting microorganisms and filtering out nutrients. The deep roots of these plants also sequester carbon long-term, storing it in the ground instead of in the air. 

The completed OFG project with sail boats in the background

A Surfrider Long Beach volunteer helps spread mulch around the new plants (Photo by Dani Dong)

In just a few short months, we saw an explosion of pollinators coming to visit the plants in the OFG. Even small additions of native plants to planters like these or your front yard at home provide valuable habitat and boost biodiversity across our communities.

fiery skipper moths, gray hairstreak butterflies, and emerald green sweat bees visit the seaside daisies in bloom

For our final workday of the year, we transformed another roundabout in Shoreline Village, about a block away from our first project. Volunteers created a bioswale around the perimeter, planted a matilija "fried egg" poppy in the center,  and added lots of native sages and California fuschias. 

volunteers plant native sages and sedges in the roundabout

Overall in our 2024 collaborations with the Marine Bureau, we transformed 3,497 sq ft of turf grass into Ocean Friendly Gardens and planted 531 native and climate-adapted plants. We couldn't have done it without our 93 incredible volunteers who came out to these 4 events!

Want to come out to our next OFG workday? Be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page or join our volunteer list! You can also help support projects like this by becoming a member of Surfrider Long Beach. 

We are looking forward to collaborating with the Marine Bureau and Long Beach Utilities next year, and are extremely thankful for their trust, support, and collaboration. We are so stoked to see our collective vision come to life, and ready to roll up our sleeves to continue creating Ocean Friendly Gardens! 

This impact was made possible in part by the generous support of Accelerate Resilience L.A., a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. All landscapes designed by California Eco Design.