Huntington Beach, Calif.--A newly dug tidal inlet creates a connection between the ocean and the Bolsa Chica wetlands for the first time in more than a century.

HB's Bolsa Chica wetlands for the first time 107 years--filled with ocean water as a 387-acre, newly restored basin completed a two-year project that cost more than $100 million dollars and diverted part of Pacific Coast Highway to an overpass. First cut off from the ocean by duck hunters of the Bolsa Hunting Club, it became an oil field. It will now serve as a stable habitat for endangered species.

The inlet will allow full-strength ocean tides to flush a 367-acre basin twice each day. It is expected to regenerate the habitat for fish and endangered birds. The restoration project was paid for by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and is compensation or trade for the destroyed marine habitat in an agreement that permits port expansions.