Before hiking the Inner Bolsa Bay, you may want to stop at the Bolsa Chica Interpretive Center at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway. The exhibit room contains many interesting and educational displays and provides free trail guides, souvenir items, and a bird checklist of 336 birds that can be seen at the wetlands and in near by Central Park. The Interpretive Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. The other area in Huntington Beach with plenty of wide open spaces is Central Park, located along either side of Golden West Street between Talbert and Slater Avenues. About half of Central Park's 350 acres is developed, the rest is devoted to wildlife and greenery.
Future plans call for a sports field, fishing lake, and an urban forest.
Spend an hour or the day in Central Park. A unique spot in Huntington Beach is the Monarch Butterfly habitat on Graham Street between Warner and Heil Avenues, across from the 6th hole at Meadowlark Golf Course. The habitat is actually a grove of Eucalyptus trees where the rare Monarch butterfly gathers every November and stays until early March. The Monarch Butterfly habitat is free and open to the public. Many smaller parks with a variety of picnic, playground and barbecue facilities are spread throughout the city, so getting back to nature is as easy as walking down the street.