“We’re relying on the Navy’s resources to clean this up,” Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard said Wednesday. “I know the community doesn’t want to look at a half-burned remnant of what was the hangar and we owe it to the community to take it down as safely and quickly as possible.

“It needs to be cleaned up quickly for health reasons and general optics,” Lumbard said. “The city cares, and I think the Navy cares, too.”

What caused the fire to ignite early Tuesday morning will be investigated by Orange County Fire Authority and Navy officials; Wednesday morning firefighters continued to monitor the smoldering ruins while it was still unsafe for crews to get inside.

The north hangar, with its nearby southern twin, is still owned by the Department of the Navy, though the Tustin base was shuttered in 1999 and hundreds of its acres have since been developed with housing and other community uses. The two mostly wooden hangars – each 17 stories tall, 1,000 feet long and 300 feet wide – were built in 1942 to house blimps for patrolling the West Coast for Japanese submarines and later used by helicopter squadrons. They are listed on the Register of National Historic Places.

The south hangar, leased and maintained by the city of Tustin, remained untouched.

Officials from the Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure program said Wednesday their greatest priority remains the health and safety of the community and with city officials and local agencies they are evaluating any health risks from the materials used 80 years ago and since to preserve and make the wood fire resistant. Asbestos-cement board was also used as a structural material, Navy officials said, and many surfaces are known to have been finished using lead-based paint.

The  South Coast Air Quality Management District released Wednesday night that “samples of debris and ash were collected in public areas near the hangar, and results of laboratory testing show the presence of asbestos.” People are being encouraged to limit their exposure to smoke, ash and dust from the fire.

“There are just general concerns about the materials used 80 years ago and in the maintenance of that hangar throughout the decades,” Lumbard said.

His children attend schools nearby and he’s heard other concerns from parents and the community, he said. Late Wednesday night the Tustin Unified School District announced schools would be closed Thursday, Nov. 9.

Health officials did put out a local smoke advisory for Wednesday encouraging especially people who are sensitive to air quality issues to avoid the ash and smoke from the fire.

A clear timeline on when the clean-up will begin has not been established, Lumbard said, but the discussions with the OCFA and the Navy are expected to continue through the week.

Tustin hangar was largest surviving artifact of Marine aviation and a landmark for OC

Many in the community are mourning the loss of the hangar; the twin structures have been a landmark in the region for so long.

The city will ensure the south hangar remains safe, Lumbard said. Since leasing it, the city has provided regular maintenance and site security and the massive space has been used for filming moves and commercials, community events, celebrations and even as the site of a half marathon.

“With this disaster of this magnitude and unfortunate as it is, we’re evaluating if there are additional measures we can take to maintain its safety and make sure nothing like this happens to the south hangar,” Lumbard said. “With the loss of the north hangar, the sentiment of keeping the south hangar, for a number of reasons, has grown since yesterday.”

What happens in the future with the 85 acres that included the north hangar is the next big question. In the past, anything from a baseball stadium to a big concert or amphitheater venue has been bandied around. The property was once slated to become a regional park, but little movement ever happened in that direction.

“With the hangar now gone that opens up different possibilities,” Third District Supervisor Don Wagner said. “The footprint of the land may be different and maybe an amphitheater does work and maybe the county can do a park and fund it.”

Besides the now burned-out hulk of the hangar, there are at least 60 other buildings on the Navy property that also have been allowed to “lie fallow” and will need to be dealt with, the mayor said.

Lumbard is confident an agreement can be reached with the Navy.

“I think the Navy cares,” he said. “I think in recent years they just haven’t taken a proactive approach in managing the site. We will definitely be calling them to do so now.”

Navy officials said Wednesday since spending nearly $3 million in 2013 to fix part of the hangar’s roof damaged by wind, it has continued with regular maintenance and inspection. More recently, the city had performed a structural assessment on the north hangar, they said, and was working with the Navy to present alternatives for the hangar as part of its master plan.

“I don’t want folks asking, ‘Why is the city doing nothing?’ We want to move the ball forward,” Lumbard said. “I’m confident the Navy doesn’t want to keep it forever. They have no use for it.”

In recent years, the north hangar property has become the “hole of the donut,” as Lumbard put it, with the city developing around all sides of it.

“The regional park was first promised and the community deserves some green space,” he said. “Now, that the hangar has burned down, it would be important to commemorate what was there.”

Rick Nelson, vice president of the Tustin Area Historical Society, agrees with the idea of a park and a memorial dedicated to the base’s history, but he’d like to step that up a notch.

“It’s obvious there should be a museum there that commemorates the two hangars and what they did for our community,” he said. “It’s a new opportunity because we didn’t think the hangar would disappear.”

As funding, he sees a possibility of developer-in-lieu fees or even a goodwill gesture from the Navy.

“Maybe the Navy,” he said, “would want to help support the history as well.”

Staff Writer Nathan Percy contributed to this report.

The blaze that has destroyed the historic structure started early Tuesday morning and smoke was seen rising high into the air throughout the afternoon Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, officials with the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory because of the fire. It is set to be in effect through the end of the day. Officials with the agency said most of the impacts are localized for now, but stronger Santa Ana winds could push smoke toward the southwest.

“Air quality conditions may reach unhealthy for sensitive groups in nearby neighborhoods,” the advisory said.

Orange County Health Care Agency officials echoed the advisory, saying people who are “being impacted” by windblown smoke, dust or ash, should “try to limit your exposure by remaining indoors, with windows and doors closed or seek alternative shelter to reduce exposure to smoke and ash.”

“Everyone should be aware of the recommended precautions to reduce the health effects of smoke and ash from building fires,” Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the county’s health officer and director of public health services, said in a statement. “Extra measures may be needed for those with pre-existing medical conditions like heart or lung disease, those with disabilities, older adults, children, and those who may be working outdoors.”

Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard on Wednesday worried about the impacts on his community’s air quality following the blaze. While the fire still smolders at the base of the burned-out hangar, local agencies are monitoring the air for any health concerns, he said.

“There are concerns about materials used,” Lumbard said. “AQMD’s initial readings were unremarkable, but there is a general concern about materials used 80 years ago.”

“Oh geez, it’s awful, that’s unbelievable,” he said while on the phone watching part of history collapse. “Generations of Marine helicopter pilots trained and deployed from there.”

Read more: Fire destroys massive, historic north hangar at shuttered Tustin airfield

The north hangar, which with its twin to the south on the property was built in 1942, will have to be demolished, authorities said Tuesday even as flames continued to burn through the giant structure. The two mostly wooden hangars – 17 stories tall, 1,000 feet long and 300 feet wide – were quickly built at the base to house 12 blimps to patrol the West Coast against Japanese submarines. Their use evolved as military needs changed in the following decades but have been vacant for over 20 years.

Quilter’s father, Maj. Gen. Charles Quilter, was the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing from 1966 to ’68 at the Tustin station and the younger Quilter said he still remembers being around the hangars as a kid in the 1950s.

“Orange County was extremely rural, none of the development you see now,” he said. “It was just wall-to-wall citrus and rural roads. All of a sudden, these things loomed out of the rural setting. These two structures just dominated the skyline.”

“You realize it is one of these structures that get built in times of national emergency, and now it’s gone,” Quilter, a military historian, added. “And with it, for the Marine Corps, the largest piece of Marine aviation history that survives. At least one survives to be the monument of historical memory.”

But Quilter, a longtime Laguna Beach resident, also noted the loss for the greater Orange County community, calling the hangars one of its “anchoring features” and recalling what they meant to pilots flying into John Wayne Airport.

“I’d fly by them as an airline pilot; they were a huge presence and part of the identity of Orange County,” he said.

The base was used for blimps until 1949, when it was decommissioned. It reopened in 1951 for the Korean War and was used by helicopters and, by 1990, had become the hub for Marine Corps helicopter aviation on the Pacific Coast.

William Titterud was a Marine helicopter pilot who trained at the base in the 1970s. Like many pilots, he returned to Tustin after deploying to Southeast Asia and Vietnam.

“The Marine Corps birthday is coming up on Nov. 10th and some of us will get together and will no doubt talk about our years at MCAS Tustin,” he said. “It’s a sad time for those of us, pilots and maintainers alike, to see such an iconic and historic structure go down like this – a funeral pyre in the end.”

The base was closed in July 1999.  About 1,366 acres of its approximate 1,600 acres were conveyed to the city of Tustin by the Navy and are being developed with homes, shopping and entertainment centers, public institutions and new parks. But the Department of the Navy still owns the hangars, which are listed on the Register of National Historic Places.

In 2013 a portion of the north hangar’s roof collapsed and the Navy spent about $3.2 million to stabilize the structure.

The city of Tustin has an operational agreement with the Navy and has used the south hangar for some events in recent years, it had remained in better shape than the north hangar. The hangars have also been seen in movies and commercials.

Retired Marine Col. Bill Hammerle, commanding officer of the air station from 1993 to 1996, was responsible for closing the base and turning its acres over to the city. During his tour of duty there, Hammerle said the hangars were not much of a concern and squadrons used a part for their offices. There were issues where planks of wood needed to be replaced and some bolts tightened down, but overall, there wasn’t much to worry about, he said.

“The reality is that if the base had never closed, the hangars would have come down,” he said. “We needed new spaces for the MV-22s (Osprey aircraft).”

But when the base was closed, there was an interest by all involved – the Navy, the state and the city of Tustin – to keep the hangars up because they were on the national registry, Hammerle said.

“The city has been great in dealing with their hangar,” he said, adding that the north hangar clearly appeared to be in “disrepair.”

“There were holes in the side and in the roof,” he said. “You wouldn’t have expected it to burn, but it was suffering from neglect. Anybody who saw it, saw it was in disrepair. It’s tragic it deteriorated like it did, but I don’t know what kind of life it had anymore. The lesson learned is we need to look at the other one. They’re identical twins.”

Throughout the day Tuesday, people gathered around the hangar to watch as the fire burned. Passerby on nearby roads and even the 55 Freeway craned their necks to see the destruction.

“There were 100 people on the surrounding streets with their cars,” said Mark Eliot, a longtime Tustin resident and retired Tustin Unified School District employee, who ran out to see firefighters battling the blaze early Tuesday morning. “People were out on Tustin Ranch Road; people were driving from other cities. It was just a sad and an unbelievable sight.”

Eliot said he attended the ceremony held in one of the hangars for the base closure and has been to them for other events over the years. He also met with military families when the base was in service, informing them about the Tustin schools. And, he recalled the recent race the Tustin Chamber of Commerce put on that went around and through one of the hangars.

“It’s been part of my life for my entire career,” he said. “It was like saying goodbye to an old friend. You heard the sound of the roof collapsing and firefighters couldn’t go inside it to save it and risk their lives.”

The small whale – identified by staff at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center as a male pygmy sperm whale – was discovered near Tower 22 around 3:45 p.m. Sunday after beachgoers alerted Huntington Beach City Lifeguards about the whale, which was still alive and struggling to swim.

“Lifeguards confirmed the whale was in the surf and that it had bite marks on it,” said Jennifer Carey, spokesperson for the city. “Afterwards, they asked people on the beach if they saw anything, and they said they saw a shark and thrashing, and then the whale washed ashore.”

Carey said there were no injuries to people.

The shoreline and ocean on either side of Tower 22 will remain closed for one mile in each direction, per city policy, Carey said. The closure, which began on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. will remain in place until Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Carey said the whale was picked up from the beach by a rescue team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center around 7 p.m. 

The center’s veterinarian, Dr. Alissa Deming, said the whale was euthanized because it was too sick and wouldn’t have survived transport.

When the rescue team showed up, a large group of people had formed a circle around the whale, but Huntington Beach City Lifeguards were good at keeping people safe and from pushing the animal back into the water, Deming said. Struggling whales and dolphins have less chance of survival if they are pushed into the water when they already have difficulty breathing.

“It did have a shark bite, which is very common,” Deming said. “Scrapes and scratches are essentially a dinner bell for a shark.”

The rescue team first sedated the whale, which Deming said was clearly struggling and ill.

“We always go to the beach with the intention of rescuing the animal,” she said, adding that, in this case, the whale was going in and out of cardiac arrest during the evaluation process. “It was suffering and never going to survive a transport. This was an unfortunate outcome, but the best possible one for this animal.”

Deming said this whale species is known to be elusive and is not often seen in near-shore waters or even by boaters. They are also known to be among the deepest-diving cetaceans in North America.

On Monday, Deming and her team began work on a necropsy to see why the whale was so sick. Initial findings suggest it suffered from sepsis — an infection of the blood. Samples will be sent to a lab for further studies, which is a focus of the Laguna Beach rescue center.

“It’s very exciting to sample this animal,” Deming said, setting aside her veterinarian role and putting on her researcher’s cap. “It’s like sampling the depths of the ocean. It gives us an opportunity to learn about something we wouldn’t normally know about.”

PMMC has been called to Orange County beaches to rescue a pygmy sperm whale three times since Deming has headed up the rescue and research work. In 2019, one was also found beached in Surfside; in 2021, one was found on the sand in San Clemente, and earlier this year, another one was found on Bolsa Chica State Beach.

In 2019, another pygmy sperm whale washed up on Zuma Beach. It was also euthanized after it was determined it was too weak to survive in the ocean.

Justin Viezbicke, stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said seeing this species near shore is “very uncommon.”

“They do inhabit areas offshore and are rarely seen,” he said, “except when they occasionally strand.”

Just as PMMC was wrapping up work on the whale, Deming was called out for a report of a struggling common dolphin off Newport Beach. As she headed out, she was optimistic, calling the dolphin species, the “pitbull of dolphins.”

The 90 pieces on display are housed in huge cases and have QR codes attached explaining more about the artwork and the 60 artists who created them. The codes also direct people to websites for the famed art show and the Pageant of the Masters, both of which have a rich history in Laguna Beach and Southern California.

Festival officials said they wanted the greater traveling public to also become familiar with the shows and they hope the artwork inspires visitors to consider next year’s events as a destination when coming to the area.

“We thought the airport would create a diverse population for the exhibit,” said Tom Lamb, a photographer and member of the festival’s board. “Many people are used to seeing public art collections around the world. We figured many people arrive by air and sometimes may wonder, “What can I do here?”

The Festival of Arts, which has a 1,000-piece permanent collection, celebrated its 91st year this summer. Juried painters, sculptors, jewelers and mixed-media artists win slots each summer to set up booths and show off their art at the Festival of Arts grounds on Laguna Canyon Road.

This summer’s art show drew about a quarter of a million people, but Lamb said the numbers remain down compared to before the pandemic.

The exhibition at the airport includes early Laguna Beach artists such as Joseph Kleitsch and Edgar Payne and contemporary artists such as Stillman Sawyer and Thomas Waddelow.

It was curated by Pat Sparkuhl, an artist and longtime festival exhibitor. He was hired by the festival board to bring the collection up to date so it could be exhibited. It took about a year for him to get the show together.

“It’s very diverse and interesting,” Lamb said, encouraging people to take the time to walk through each of the three terminals. “It’s a huge opportunity for the festival to be given this show.”

Lamb said he’s been to the airport at least 15 times since the exhibit debuted. Each time, he found people fascinated by what they were seeing, he said.

Introducing himself, Lamb has asked people what they think, he said. Some told him they had been to the pageant and the festival previously and now want to go back. In one case, a woman asked about purchasing a piece. While nothing can be purchased from the collection, Lamb connected the woman with the artist.

While the pieces are on display near the gates, locals who still want to take a look before it closes Wednesday, Nov. 1, can take advantage of the airport’s OC Air Pass. The pass is available to anyone who wants to tour the show, but requires driver’s license identification and passing through TSA security. The pass is available at a kiosk in the airport’s baggage areas and is good for one-day access.

Heather Bowling, the airport’s art curator, said about 1 million travelers come through the airport a month and have had an opportunity to see the collection. Responses, she said, have been very positive and she appreciates the variety that the festival’s exhibit has provided.

“People asked questions and will ask about the artists and origins of the work,” she said, adding that many locals have also taken the opportunity to visit with the air pass. “They can look at the art, watch planes and grab a bite. It’s interesting to be in the airport without the chaos of travel.”

“The biggest shift in the way we’ve been recruiting is that we understand that there is a huge knowledge gap of what the public thinks about Army service,” said Maj. Antoine Evans, executive officer of the Army’s Southern California Recruiting Battalion. “Most of the time, people think it’s bullets, tanks and bombs. We need to close that gap and let joining the Army become Plan A, not Plan B. We need educators to put us in the same conversation as Amazon or Google and let the student decide.”

Army recruiters have prioritized introducing prospective future soldiers to the more than 200 career options available in the service by putting on large job fairs. And some of the Army’s coolest bling – including drones, Humvees and helicopters typically only seen at events such as air shows –  has even been brought in from bases in other states for events held in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego counties to help build interest.

The Army has made West Coast recruitment a priority, including directing more funding and personnel to the “surge.”

On Tuesday, about 1,000 high school students in Riverside County were bussed to the nearby March Air Reserve Base for one of the new job fairs, where soldiers explained their careers and their benefits, including the GI Bill, and the adventures and responsibilities that come with their duties. The fair continues on Wednesday.

While the students get up-close and personal with Army soldiers, so do local educators, which officials said is key in keeping the conversation of military service in the foreground as an option for graduating students.

Earlier this year, another 1,300 students from schools represented by the San Diego County of Education visited the Van Deman Hall US Army Reserve Center and mini fairs have been held at high schools in Orange County.

“That’s the best way to tell the stories,” said Evans, who has served for 18 years and earned four degrees during that time. “Seeing it, hearing a soldier talk about life as a soldier is 100% more impactful than sitting in front of someone’s recruiting desk.”

Among the most popular military occupational specialties for future soldiers in Southern California are cyber, IT-related fields, aviation technicians and pilots, and nursing. In other areas such as Texas and the greater South, there is more interest in combat fields such as special operations, artillery and tanks, said Benjamin Newell, a spokesperson for the Southern California Recruiting Battalion.

Capt. Chris Monroe, who is part of the Army’s new Futures Command, talked with students at Tuesday’s job fair about the Army’s new “software factory,” which didn’t even exist when the West Point grad commissioned six years ago. As an engineering officer, he is among a group of developers who spend their time coding new apps and building websites for the Army.

“A lot of high school students – and adults – think there are only two or three jobs in the Army,” he said. “I tell them, ‘You do coding in high school, you can continue growing in those skills and serve your country in the Army.’ Many of them said, ‘I didn’t know that was even possible.’”

Monroe, from Jackson, Miss., said his Army career has exceeded his expectations for the opportunities he’s been given. He completed his maters degree at Georgia Technical University while serving and now is part of things he never imagined.

Shane Sands, principal at Vista Murrieta High School, was at Tuesday’s recruitment fair with 33 students.

“Mostly, they were excited,” Sands said. “Some, who didn’t know what to expect, were a little apprehensive at first, but once they got their hands on the equipment and talked with the soldiers, that changed.”

Sands said he and other educators have seen increased interest in military service among their students. In the past, he said, it was more of a conversation with students at alternative learning schools – where he also worked for five years – but the trend of opening up the military conversation is now being seen at the mainstream campuses.

“That’s really transitioned in the last year,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of positive rewards and, as a district, we’ve been talking about equalizing the conversation as far as promoting military service along with other career choices and not only pushing every student to go to college.”

And, even if a student doesn’t decide to join the Army or decides military service isn’t for them, exposure to a variety of jobs has additional benefits.

“For a professional that happens to be a soldier to talk to about a career pathway or a specific job, it might spark their interest that way as well,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Upperman, commanding officer of the Southern California Recruiting Battalion. “We can support the schools’ effort in talking over blindspots that kids have and opening up what’s possible. Not only in military service, but just in life in general.”

The collaboration with educators just over the last year has shown positive gains to the Army’s recruiting efforts in Southern California.

In the last year, the Southern California Army Recruiting Battalion has increased recruiting by 910 enlistments – for a total of 2,700 people joining. Since September, they’ve engaged with 9,000 Californians who qualify and are interested in serving, officials said.

“Compared to where we were a year ago, we’re definitely on an incline,” Evans said. “We were one of the bottom battalions; we finished this fiscal year second in the nation. But the Army as a whole should also improve.”

U.S. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth recently called for immediate reforms to recruitment efforts when the service branch missed its mark for a second year in a row – the branch has been struggling with recruitment for several years. She emphasized the importance of reforming recruiting by keeping up with market trends and shifting to efforts that are more what is used in the private sector, including large job fairs and better exposure beyond the traditional recruit depots.

“As a recruiting force, we cannot be successful without strong partners, and in Southern California, the strongest partners we have are the educators that help us identify opportunities to share our message and close that knowledge gap,” Upperman said, referring to the Wormuth’s goals.

Giving educators a chance to speak with soldiers also helps de-mystify what being a soldier involves, he said, emphasizing that if a soldier does it right, they can finish a four-year degree in a tour of duty.

“We are much more personable and approachable than a lot of folks assume,” Upperman said. “And as they talk to the professionals, a lot of educators recognize how educated, thoughtful, talented, and well-spoken (soldiers) are. It reinforces in their mind the Army is not just a fall-back option.”

The unusual sighting on Thursday, Oct. 19, was about five miles off the coast of Dana Point, where the water is about 1,200 feet to 2,000 feet deep.

Caitlyn Nieblas, a biologist and photographer aboard the Capt. Dave Dolphin and Whale Watching vessel, described the sighting as a first for herself, adding, “They don’t come this far south.”

The dolphin, described as small and slender with no dorsal fin, is typically seen in the cold water of the northwest. They are often mistaken for fur seals because of their dark color and acrobatic nature. Typically, they swim in a group of 100 to 200 animals.

But Thursday’s spotting by Stumpf was a lone dolphin swimming with common dolphins. Though it was a foggy morning, Nieblas said the animal was clearly visible, especially because it popped up right by the boat. She used her GoPro to get underwater shots and Stumpf used a drone to film the dolphin from above.

“It looked weird swimming with the others, but it had a really cute face,” Nieblas said. “We sped up and matched its speed and I could see it from the deck of the boat.”

Nieblas said the boat carrying the enthusiastic passengers stayed with the unusual dolphin for about 15 to 20 minutes before letting other charter boats nearby take a peek.

“Some people didn’t get how rare it was,” Nieblas said, “but then I showed them the pictures on my GoPro, and they saw how cute its face was, and they were excited.”

Now that the young sea lions have a few months under their belts experts at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, the Marine Mammal Center Los Angeles and San Diego SeaWorld are betting the long hours of dedication from their care teams will pay off and the pups can make it to the ocean.

Historically, animals younger than 6 months raised in rescue facilities are placed in captivity, but these pups are showing they can hunt, capture and kill fish on their own.

This weekend, three sea lion pups born at PMMC and raised in the red barn along Laguna Canyon Road since early June will join three other pups at San Diego SeaWorld in preparation for their release.  PMMC’s pups, Raindrop, Miley and Kenny, were each born to mothers poisoned in the toxic bloom that began off Ventura County and spread during the summer into ocean waters off Los Angeles and Orange County.

Dr. Alissa Deming, PMMC’s head veterinarian, said while the bloom was likely the most devastating in recent times, she was thankful it began in late May, close to the full gestation terms for the pups. Often, spring blooms come when pups are not fully developed and their prognosis is dim.

Labor was induced in the mothers who were stranded on local beaches to stop the toxic exposure to the pups and to give the moms the best chance to survive. Deming and her staff held their breath, she said, hoping the pups wouldn’t present with seizures or other neurological conditions brought on by the poisoning.

The vet staff had wanted to keep the pups with their mothers, but the toxins made at least one dangerously aggressive.

So, Deming pulled the pups together and Rainbow, the most tranquil sea lion mom, stayed with her own Raindrop and became a surrogate for Miley and Kenny. The pups were able to nurse from her and get important nutrition from the milk that helps build their immune systems, the doctor said.

“We wanted the pups to be together like they are on the islands so they could learn from each other,” Deming said. “Sea lions learn from other babies. They hang out together and play when their moms leave them there and go out to fish. They hang out in little groups called posses and then go out and fish together.”

The center considered keeping the moms with the pups once they were recovering, Deming said, but decided because the breeding season for sea lions started in August, it made sense to release them.

“We wanted them to go out and meet a boy so they would have a pup for the next summer,” Deming said, adding that most sea lion moms are raising a newborn while carrying an enbryo. Female sea lions become sexually mature at 5 years old and, if all goes well, they continue to have a pup each year.

Once the moms were released, feeding the pups became harder, Deming said.

“We tried to stay hands-off and no talking around them, but we had to tube-feed them,” she said. “It did take a lot of effort to make sure they were putting on the weight and eating at night.”

A high-fat content formula did the trick and the babies grew plumper. Then, totally uncommon when working with sea lion pups, Deming kicked up the efforts and tried to feed them with cut-up herring.

“To eat fish, the pups would pick up tiny fish pieces to suckle and once in a while, they would swallow,” she said. “After three weeks, they were diving in the pool like big sea lions.”

All the while, the veterinarians at the region’s rescue centers were discussing what would give the pups their best chance at going to the ocean. Dr. Lauren Palmer from the Marine Mammal Care Center Los Angeles and veterinarians at SeaWorld also had young pups from the algae bloom.

They decided the PMMC pups, three more at SeaWorld and six at MMCLA could be a sample set to see if a new rehab plan could work.

“A lot of credit goes to Dr. Palmer,” Deming said, “she’s recognized how many pups have stranded and then got back to the point you can’t see a difference between them and other sea lions.”

On Friday night, PMMC held a farewell party for the pups before they headed this weekend to SeaWorld and Deming said she’s excited by what they will learn with more exposure to other sea lions their age.

PMMC is also about ready to move operations to a temporary spot by the city’s dog park while it undergoes a $14 million expansion, so keeping the pups would have been hard.

“SeaWorld will be good for them,” Deming said. “They will be exposed to the other pups and even older sea lions. They’ll learn something isn’t good behavior and they’ll adjust and become polite little sea lions.”

Matt Schuiteman, a zoological specialist with SeaWorld’s rescue team, said he also looks forward to their arrival and seeing their progress. They will join one pup born at the facility and two rescued from the beach.

“PMMC did a wonderful job in getting their animals on fish so quickly,” he said. “We were blown away with their success.”

Schuiteman said his seal lions were bottle-fed and only recently have they tried fish. While all have shown an interest in hunting the fish in water and then catching and killing them, the difficulty has been getting them to swallow the fish.

“The swallowing action is the toughest thing to do,” he said. “It extends muscle action and they need to trust it’s food. Getting that large fish in is a pretty big deal.”

His goal is to get their pups eating before they meet up with the PMMC pups. One, named 23 and found on the beach as a premature pup, has made the biggest strides in trying to eat fish. She, Schuiteman said, will be the ambassador to meet the PMMC pups first, who he imagines might be a little scared in the new facility.

“Having the ambassador is great; they’ll have a new animal in their own size to check out,” he said. “If that’s a positive interaction, it’s a sign they’ll do well. Sea lions are naturally sociable animals. If there is aggression, we’ll find a different way to interact.”

Once the pups are introduced, they will go into a large area with a pool, a playground environment with slides and other enrichment toys to help them progress. Mostly, he said, the key is to keep hands-off and let them develop their sea lion personalities.

The rescue teams are optimistic about the pups’ planned release back to the Channel Islands – with satellite tags attached.

SeaWorld released three young pups in May – with help from Palmer at MMCLA – and according to data from their satellite tags, Schuiteman said they’re doing well. The two girls have stayed together and traveled to San Francisco Bay and back; the boy has foraged out on his own a bit, hunting for territory and exploring.

“We followed LA’s lead on that,” he said. “They showed you can have success.”

Deming added that the timing to improve new pup rehab is critical because the number of toxic blooms appears to be increasing.

“We want to know their success,” she said. “That will be critical in helping manage future blooms and we’ll know if it’s the right decision. If they were euthanized right when they were born, we would never know.”

The 400-foot bridge that leads from Jamboree Road to the entrance of the island at Marine Avenue will be closed from 10 p.m. on Sunday until 5 a.m. Monday. That same night-shift schedule will continue daily through Thursday.

Though there may be periods where cars will be able to get through, city officials recommend using the Balboa Ferry to get on and off the island.

The work is part of an effort to underground utilities on the island that began on the westside in 2022.

Work was starting on the North Bay Front road, but crews have stopped at Onyx Avenue because of the old water pipes, said Mike Sinacori, Newport Beach’s city engineer. “Those water pipes need to be strengthened and we postponed the underground work until January.”

Work includes burying all overhead utilities in the public right of way. There will also be reconstruction of alleys and paved areas once the poles and wires are removed. The Balboa Ferry was closed down for a month by the project in early 2022. 

Though the ferry’s coverage typically ends at midnight, Sinacori said the city has made an agreement with the ferry service – which runs back and forth across the bay from the island to the peninsula – to run throughout the night.

Nate Capra, operations manager with the ferry, said they are remaining in communication with the construction crew and will make adjustments if they need to extend their time to help out the residents.

“We’ve already had Balboa Island residents come to us and say they need to leave for work at 3 a.m., or that some need to get to John Wayne Airport,” Capra said. “We’re here for the people of Balboa Island.”

If there is an emergency on the island, Sinacori said his crews could quickly organize tools and vehicles so an ambulance can pass through. He added that he has also coordinated plans with the Newport Beach Fire Department should there be an emergency.

The water main work is expected to cost the city about $500,000 and the overall undergrounding project is about $6.2 million.

It was late February and six or seven men dressed in white suits, some carrying packs with a liquid, were spraying on the hillside just about 100 feet above. Thinking something “wasn’t right,” Wallace, wearing flip-flops, climbed up and asked what they were doing.

They were spraying, she learned, to get rid of invasive plants as part of the city’s efforts to safeguard against fire risk.

That put Wallace on a mission to convince city officials to eradicate the use of the weedkiller Roundup, which she worries is toxic to residents and the environment.

Roundup contains the herbicide glyphosate; it was developed decades ago by Monsanto, which was bought in 2018 by Bayer. Glyphosate is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its findings are the herbicide is not likely carcinogenic to humans when used as directed. Debate and legal challenges have gone on for years.

Bayer has said it would replace glyphosate in Roundup for residential use beginning in 2023.

“Bayer stands fully behind our glyphosate-based products, which have been used safely and successfully around the world for 50 years,” said Kyel Richard, a company spokesperson, in a statement.

“Leading health regulators around the world have repeatedly concluded that our glyphosate-based products can be used safely as directed,” Richard said. “Glyphosate-based herbicides are among the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, which is a major reason why farmers and others around the world continue to rely on these products to control problematic weeds.”

Roundup has been used for years by the city, said Mayor Bob Whalen, more recently in South Laguna starting in January. The effort is part of a wide-ranging fire management plan rolled out by the city starting in 2019 with blessings from the California Coastal Commission.

The city contracts with Nature’s Image Inc. to conduct the spraying for the fuel modification efforts and with the Laguna Canyon Foundation to monitor that environmentally sensitive animals and plants are protected – for example its biologists flagged the Big-Leaved Crownbeard and Coulter’s Matilija Poppy, considered threatened in the state, to be avoided. Around them, any weed removal was done by hand, said Jacky Cordero, interim executive director of the foundation.

Hand crews and goats also help eliminate unwanted vegetation to curb fire hazards.

Wallace and others in South Laguna concerned by spraying seen along hillsides, community streets and popular trail areas met with foundation and city officials in February and April, urging the spray be stopped.

“They wanted to assure us that spraying the Roundup is fine and that they had permits to do it,” Wallace said. “Lots of people came.”

But the residents left feeling they weren’t getting their message across, Wallace said. “We felt endangered and we wanted it stopped.”

Ramin Pejan, who also lives nearby and is a senior attorney for Earth Justice, said he noticed the crews out along the Valido Trail, a popular neighborhood hiking path that leads to a lookout on Aliso Peak and to other trails managed by OC Parks. He said there had been no signage telling people about the spraying.

“The day before they were spraying, we were literally eating sour grass — an edible plant,” he said of an outing with his children. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have known.”

He said that city and foundation officials agreed during the meeting with the community that “they messed up with the noticing.” Also it was discovered the city had not gotten the necessary permits from OC Parks, according to a recent report from the California Environmental Protection Agency in response to complaints filed.

Wallace, Pejan and a handful of other residents have since gathered signatures on a petition demanding the “adoption of alternative, non-toxic methods for weed control on public land.” More than 1,100 people have signed online at Change.org and 350 signed in person.

“It’s hard to find people who don’t know about Roundup,” Wallace said. “Ninety percent of the people we asked said, ‘Roundup, let me sign.’”

“People in South Laguna love the environment and look at the hillsides and realize the precious habitat that surrounds us.”

Recently, the concerned residents presented their information to a meeting of the city’s Environmental Sustainability Committee, which voted to recommend to the City Council that it ban all chemical pesticides, rodenticides and herbicides citywide.

The city of Irvine banned the use of Roundup in 2017.

In 2020, the Laguna Beach council banned the use of anticoagulant pesticides – they cause rodents to bleed internally – on all city properties. 

Committee member Judie Mancuso said the city of Malibu’s Earth Friendly Management Policy would be a great guideline for the city to use in developing its own policies for using alternatives to chemical products. Mancuso was instrumental with former Councilmember Steve Dicterow on the anticoagulant ban and has history with successfully championing legislation to protect animals.

“We are losing species like we’ve never lost them before,” Mancuso said. “Land mammals, birds, marine mammals. You think you’re killing plants, but it kills everything in the food chain and it causes cancer.”

“People have to do something at the local level,” she said. “We can’t wait to make it national and global.”

Since the residents’ uproar earlier this year, the Fire Department has improved its public notification process, Whalen said. “They’re giving property owners adjacent to the trail the right to opt-out and say, ‘We don’t want anything sprayed on our property.’”

And, Whalen said though the council has been told the spraying is the best option for fuel modification, “that’s not to say there aren’t alternatives.”

“Clearly, there is a lot to discuss,” Whalen said.

Jeremy Frimond, assistant to the city manager, said the residents’ concern “has the staff’s full attention” and that the discussion has a clear timeline to get to the council. The next scheduled spraying is in January.

“Let’s look at it and make sure each community is comfortable with it,” he said, adding that the chemical is only sprayed in specific locations in a targeted application. “Some people in some neighborhoods are more comfortable with it. South Laguna’s message, ‘We’re not comfortable,’ is received. We’re not dismissing their concerns.”

“We’re trying to evolve and go to the next steps,” he said.

Pejan said he hopes the concerned residents can convince the council to act before more spraying is done.

He points out Bayer had settled more than 100,000 claims for around $11 billion by May 2022.

“If it’s 100% safe,” why the big judgements, he said. “When you make decisions, you should be rather safe than sorry. If there is an alternative, you should use it.”