Newport Beach, Newport Bay Conservancy look ahead to Big Canyon restoration project
Discussion of restoring Big Canyon, which has long been impacted by human activity and development as Orange County grew, started in 2002, according to project manager and Newport Beach assistant city engineer Bob Stein, but nothing came of it until about 2015. … That led to Phase I, which cost roughly $1.6 million and recently concluded its monitoring period. That phase addressed roughly 6 acres of the park and focused on the rehabilitation of the creek that runs through it and riparian restoration. Urban runoff was diverted to a water treatment center.