Plans are nearly complete for a wetlands reserve restoration that will replace trash and weeds with native plants and a public trail in a highly visible spot at the Carlsbad-Oceanside border.
The vacant land along South Coast Highway is opposite the Buena Vista Audubon Society’s Nature Center. The nonprofit purchased 3.5 acres of the roughly 6-acre site in 2016 for $1.55 million raised in donations, nearly a decade after a developer’s proposal to build a multi-story, 82-room hotel there failed.
Much of the site is covered by ice plant and invasive, non-native weeds. It’s also littered with trash, much of it left by people who sometimes camp hidden in the brush.
Most of the land is in Oceanside, but a fraction is in Carlsbad and owned by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. That’s because Carlsbad’s boundary includes all of the more than 200-acre Buena Vista Lagoon, and the state owns the lagoon.
“This is a really complicated project,” said Julie Fontaine, an environmental consultant managing the project. “It’s only about six acres, but there are many jurisdictions and agencies involved.”
Another complication is the upcoming restoration of the entire lagoon, a separate project led by the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional planning agency.
The SANDAG restoration includes the removal of the weir, a low dam at the mouth of the lagoon, that raises the water level to about seven feet above sea level. The weir prevents tidal flows from the ocean and makes Buena Vista the only freshwater lagoon in the county.
Final environmental documents have been approved for the overall lagoon restoration. Design and engineering plans are being completed, but so far there’s no money for construction. Recent estimates place the costs between $80 million and $90 million, and obtaining the funding could take several more years.
In the meantime, final plans are nearly complete for the Audubon Society’s restoration of its smaller site at the edge of the lagoon. The project is tentatively set to go to the Oceanside Planning Commission for approval in January.
The Audubon Society’s reserve and the entire lagoon, also a reserve, are home to a long list of endangered species of native plants and animals, including the light-footed Ridgway’s rail and other rare birds. The six-acre site along South Coast Highway in particular can be a buffer between the lagoon and urban development.
The project got a boost in November with news of a $600,000 grant from the State Coastal Conservancy and a $380,000 donation from the Dorrance Family Foundation, said Natalie Shapiro, executive director of the local Audubon chapter.
“This funding, on top of the past funding from both the Dorrance Family Foundation and (local nonprofit) Preserve Calavera, will allow us to get our project planning and design to 95% complete,” Shapiro said.
After that, the project will be “shovel-ready” and can go out for construction bids, she said.
No estimate has been released for the construction costs, and the design and engineering documents will help determine the amount needed. Fontaine said it could be anywhere from $1 million to $10 million, and the money should be available from state and federal grants.
“The State Coastal Conservancy funds a lot of these projects,” she said. “It’s definitely a fundable project because it has so many benefits.”
In 2021, the Coastal Conservancy awarded $1 million to Oceanside for a similar, soon-to-begin wetlands restoration at the mouth of the Loma Alta Slough, near Buccaneer Beach. The conservancy previously granted $400,000 for the planning and design of that project in 2018.
If construction money for the Audubon restoration is obtained, grading could begin as soon as late 2026 and be completed that winter.
“This project could provide an example, a template, for the larger lagoon,” said David Pohl, an environmental engineer working with the Audubon Society. “We have to think well into the future.”
The Audubon Society’s property ranges in elevation from lagoon level to about 30 feet above sea level. However, when the larger SANDAG project is completed it will lower the lagoon to sea level and restore tidal flows, creating more upland habitat and bringing another dramatic change to the Audubon site.
Still further in the future, the restoration plan must consider sea-level rise. Nearly all scientific forecasts show the oceans rising at an increasing rate over the next century.
For both the Audubon and SANDAG restorations, the basic construction plan is to grade and reshape the low-lying terrain. Afterward, the bare earth will be seeded and replanted with native species.
For the overall lagoon, decades of accumulated silt and vegetation will be removed to create a deeper, wider channel to the ocean.
At the Audubon site, imported fill dirt was brought in years ago to prepare for development, Fontaine said. Most of that material will be pushed to higher ground within the site, where it could help protect adjacent private property threatened by erosion.
Below the fill is native sand that will be removed to create two small, finger-like channels of the lagoon onto the site. About 7,000 cubic yards of material are expected to be taken away. If clean enough, the sand could be placed on the nearby eroded beaches of South Oceanside, the project manager said.
A public trail will connect viewing areas around the northern perimeter of the reserve with a proposed pedestrian walkway across South Coast Highway to the Audubon Society’s nature center.
Members of local indigenous groups have been eager to participate in the project and hope to maintain a connection with the land once the work is complete.
“It’s important for indigenous people to have a seat at the table,” said Carrie Lopez, a tribal advisor for the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians. “We appreciate the formal space to gather and connect.”
Mel Vernon, tribal captain of the San Luis Rey Band, said the Luiseno people have lived in the region for 10,000 years.
Evidence of their long-ago lives can be found in the mortars worn into rocks, where they ground acorns for their food, or in middens littered with the scattered remnants of shellfish meals.
“Every day they had to eat something … and they ate what was available,” Vernon said. “At one time, the environment saved us, and now we have to save the environment.”
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