A Refuge for People, Too : Wildlife Flocks to Lagoons, But So Do Children and Adults

Carolyn Lundburg spends every Thursday, plus several other days each month, tending a lagoon. The retired homemaker volunteered three years ago to be a docent at the Buena Vista Audubon Society’s nature center on Hill Street in Oceanside. And, though the center didn’t open until 18 months ago, she and about a dozen others began much earlier to learn all about the wetlands, its birds, fish, history and plants.

Now that the center is open, each of them are more than willing to share lagoon lore with anyone who’s interested.

Five days a week school children, joggers, senior citizens, garden clubs and many others go to the center to learn about Buena Vista and later to explore its reedy, bird-busy shore.

As with all but one of the six beautiful but delicate North County coastal lagoons, visitors to Buena Vista are welcome to watch birds, fish from the shore and hike, but are forbidden from putting boats in or personally entering the water. It’s called “passive activity,” versus the activity such as jet skiing, water skiing and swimming that is allowed at Agua Hedionda Lagoon, the next estuary south of Buena Vista.

Although Agua Hedionda bustles with activity, some lagoons, such as Los Penasquitos, offer very little opportunity for recreation.

Access to the lagoons varies for several reasons. Some are private property and others are bird sanctuaries or ecological preserves.

Although these boggy borders between land and sea are among the most productive ecosystems in existence, they also are among the most endangered habitats in the world. On the California coast, 75% of the wetlands have been destroyed in fewer than 140 years, some of them turned into cement river channels.

Lagoon preservation goes on daily in San Diego County, and the fight is ferocious to protect the wetlands from those who don’t understand their value or know how to respect them. The public can get involved in protecting lagoon life, either independently or through various organizations, such as the Audubon Society or Sierra Club.

For those who are seeking a groomed, park-like setting, lagoons are not the place. Though the constantly collecting silt is dredged from some wetlands and certain other maintenance is carried out, for the most part, the lagoons are left in their natural state. Tangled underbrush and occasionally smelly tidal mud flats are inherent to the coastal condition.

Those untamed qualities are exactly what attract visitors such as Ann Severine.

A junior high school counselor and a Sierra Club guide who lives only a few blocks from San Elijo, Severine leads evening walks along the lagoon.

Severine says she relishes the lagoon walks because they offer so much variety. “There are wildflowers, and one section is really wooded with eucalyptus trees,” she said.

Sierra Club members and most others who join the walks are dedicated to environmental concerns, and many of them like week-night outings that “get them off city streets,” Severine said.

“Many of us do it for the mental break,” she adds, explaining that although the trails are never far from public roads and at one point cross under the freeway, they seem to take hikers far from urban turmoil.

Residents who would like to spend more time exploring these fascinating bodies of water--or contributing to the care of a lagoon--can find plenty of opportunities in the following wetland sketches.

BUENA VISTA LAGOON

Not only is Buena Vista Lagoon the lone freshwater lagoon in North County, it’s also the only one to have a permanent nature center to furnish visitor information.

Operated by the Buena Vista Audubon Society, the nature center at 2202 Hill St. is an excellent place to begin exploring this 220-acre wetland. The displays tell about the endangered birds and other wildlife that call the lagoon home. On the second Saturday of each month, the center presents a wildlife demonstration. For more information or to arrange group tours call 439-BIRD.

Walking east from the center, there are hiking trails, fishing spots and a subtle garden of California native plants. The plants blend so well with the brush and pussy willows that it is impossible to tell which vegetation grows there on its own and which has been added by the docents at the center.

Fishermen who ply the shores of Buena Vista hook bluegill, bass, mullet and other fish. A state fishing license is required.

Bird-watchers count several hundred migrating waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway, and several endangered species make the lagoon their refuge, including the least tern, Belding’s Savannah sparrow and the light-footed clapper rail.

A “duck landing” or feeding port for webfoot creatures has just been completed on the east rim of Buena Vista Lagoon, east of Interstate 5 off Jefferson Street. The Lagoon Foundation and the city of Carlsbad joined forces to improve conditions and provide parking at what already was an informal rendezvous site for ducks and duck-lovers.

What: Buena Vista Lagoon

Where: On the city line between Oceanside and Carlsbad.

Access: From Hill Street, Jefferson Street, and a cul-de-sac of Marron Road near California 78.

Activities: Hiking, bird-watching, fishing from shore.

Environmental Status: Most of the lagoon is a state ecological preserve and efforts to restore the lagoon to its natural condition continue. Environmental groups are fighting new commercial construction at the western shore.

AGUA HEDIONDA LAGOON

It’s enough to drive a commuter over the median. On almost any sunny day, from the freeway, windsurfers, jet skiers and boaters can be seen skimming along the shimmering surface of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. From up there on the blacktop, it looks like California at its best. And it is, naturally.

Agua Hedionda, owned by San Diego Gas & Electric and leased to the city of Carlsbad, is the only North County lagoon where people are permitted to enter the water.

Fisherman commonly cast from the shore on the western lagoon near SDG&E;’s Encina electric generating station, but most activity is in the eastern basin of the lagoon near I-5. Although there are a private boat launch, a YMCA camp and other private facilities on the lagoon, access to the water for boaters and most other sporting activities is at Snug Harbor Marina.

Snug Harbor is on the north shore of the lagoon at the end of Harrison Street, which can be reached by taking the Tamarack off-ramp from I-5 and turning right. Although the marina is on private property, sunny Snug Harbor offers a public launch ramp, snack bar and swimming beach. It also has a pro shop that sells swim, boating and fishing gear of all kinds, and rents water skis, jet skis, and a two-seat water bike called a wave runner.

Taking a vessel on the lagoon requires a city of Carlsbad permit. Annual permits are issued by the city, and daily permits can be purchased at Snug Harbor.

The east lagoon has been divided into three areas of use: a jet ski corridor near Snug Harbor and I-5; a power boat area in the center of the lagoon where only motorized vessels are allowed; and finally a passive use section at the east end of the lagoon where board sailing, canoeing and fishing from shore are permitted.

Last year, the Department of Fish and Game dedicated an ecological reserve on the northeastern shore.

What: Agua Hedionda Lagoon

Where: Carlsbad

Access: Snug Harbor, off Tamarack Drive from I-5. The way is well marked by signs. To reach the ecological preserve, take Park Drive off Tamarack. A paved walking path from the end of the cul-de-sac soon will be completed.

Activities: Fishing from the western shoreline, water sports and fishing in the basin east of I-5.

Environmental Status: Siltation continues to fill the lagoon, though parts are dredged. A nature reserve has been established, and some restoration has been done.

BATIQUITOS LAGOON

Batiquitos probably is one of the most misunderstood North County wetlands. Stretching majestically from Carlsbad State Beach east to La Costa, it typifies the charm that the lagoons bring to the county’s northern coastline.

However, its formerly natural shorelines have increasingly been subjected to residential and commercial development--and predictably, this is the subject of fierce controversy. The 550-acre wetland is considered one of the most endangered in the county.

Recently, alarm spread when the Department of Fish and Game used explosives to open the mouth of the lagoon to allow better tidal washing, which would help dying fish and improve the nesting areas of several endangered birds. When residents saw the water level fall, they assumed something had gone wrong with the lagoon.

The condition of the lagoon wasn’t getting worse, it was getting better, and it should improve even more in the decade ahead.

There are long-term plans to preserve Batiquitos. When Hillman Properties bought the lagoon from the Hunt brothers of Texas in 1988, the company turned over 377 acres of Batiquitos Lagoon to the state, clearing the way for a $20-million lagoon enhancement plan. That plan is undergoing environmental review now, and work should begin next year.

Also, Hillman will maintain a 100-foot buffer between the lagoon and its development, which includes a shoreline golf course, and to include other elements in its construction that would protect the lagoon.

The builder also is improving a 5-mile path that runs along the north shore, and by September the path will have an amphitheater for nature programs, picnic tables, benches and signposts along the walk pointing out ecological features.

The natural attractions are considerable, including eucalyptus groves, California live oaks and a pickle weed marsh along the lagoon edge that serves as home to the disappearing Belding’s Savannah Sparrow.

The Sierra Club sponsors regular evening hikes along the shore. For more information, call the Sierra Club or check the organization’s newspaper, High Sierran, for dates, times and meeting location.

What: Batiquitos Lagoon.

Where: Carlsbad, La Costa area

Access: Trails along the north shore may be reached from Batiquitos Drive on the west end, El Camino Real or Arenal Road on the east end. The trail along the western basin may be reached from Windrose Circle off Ponto Drive.

Activities: Hiking, nature study and shore fishing only.

Environmental Status: Scheduled for restoration in 1991. Environmental reviews are now in process.

SAN ELIJO LAGOON

On a recent walk along the western flats of San Elijo Lagoon, 9-year-old Tarah Bons spied the skeleton of a red rock crab, saw a 2-foot-long fish jump fully out of the water, and watched a brown pelican fish for his dinner.

She would have seen much more if she had been able to explore the full 530 acres of San Elijo. Seven species of terns feed on the small fish that thrive in the lagoon, as do herons, egrets and other waterfowl.

There is no nature center at San Elijo, though there are rangers on duty, and group tours can be scheduled by calling the San Diego County Department of Parks and Recreation.

Environmental classes meet at San Elijo Lagoon for at least part of their course work. Naturalist Barbara Moore teaches such classes through UCSD Extension, MiraCosta College and San Dieguito Adult School. For dates, times and other details, check the catalogues of these schools.

The Sierra Club sponsors evening walks once each month during daylight savings time at San Elijo. Non-members are welcome to join. For more information, call the Sierra Club or check the club’s newspaper, the High Sierra.

Susan Welker, supervising ranger at San Elijo says everyone is welcome at the lagoon, though rangers soon will start enforcing regulations to keep mountain bikes off the wetlands.

“It may sound mean,” she says, “but this is an ecological reserve for endangered plants and animals, and if it comes to a decision between people and the environment, the people have to go.”

Sensitive nesting areas have been damaged by lagoon users and their pets who have strayed from established paths, Walker said.

“Most of the shore birds that nest here have their nests on the ground or only a few feet up. Dogs can wreak havoc,” she said.

The county sponsors a volunteer corps that patrols the lagoon and watches for damage, monitors environmental changes and enforces rules.

What: San Elijo Lagoon

Where: Encinitas, south end

Access: From the end of Rios Avenue or the end of Santa Carina Drive on the south side of the lagoon, along El Camino Real near Rancho Serena at the east end of the lagoon, and off Manchester near San Elijo Drive on the north side. There is a walk-through opening in the gate on Manchester.

Activities: Hiking or fishing from designated trails.

Environmental Status: The lagoon has been cut up for duck-hunting ponds, used as a dump for processed sewage and other things that caused harm. Few ecological studies have been done, but grants have been obtained and research will begin soon.

SAN DIEGUITO LAGOON

When beach-goers in Del Mar want some rest from the waves, or let small children paddle around in a quiet pond, they often settle near the outlet of San Dieguito Lagoon, just west of Camino del Mar and the race track.

It’s also a perfect expanse of sand on which to build a really big, fancy castle. Other than this small body of water, a stream and some marshlands and ponds to the east, this is all that remains of the actual lagoon.

San Dieguito Lagoon once was the largest of North County’s six wetlands. It has been the one most altered by population growth and development. It is also the lagoon to which the public has the least access.

Archeological digs indicate that ancient man inhabited the shores more than 50,000 years ago. But the railroad, Camino del Mar and Jimmy Durante Boulevard have been built on filled-in portions, and what once was a 1,000-acre lagoon is reduced to about 300 acres.

There are plans now for a San Dieguito Regional Open Space Park, to run from Lake Hodges to the ocean, which could offer protection to the lagoon.

However, according to San Diego City Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer, who has been instrumental in getting the park under way, the regional open space would not offer any additional recreational activities on the lagoon.

“The lagoon would be the gateway to the San Dieguito River Valley Regional Park,” Wolfsheimer said, “but, as for recreational activities, there would be none. What you would have in this particularly sensitive area is an observation station for wildlife, and perhaps a (walking) trail.”

Other areas of the park, which is still in the planning and development stage and which Wolfsheimer says may take a great many years to complete, will offer golfing, horseback riding and plenty of things to do. The size of the park is yet to be determined, but 43 miles of the San Dieguito River are being studied, and this, in fact, is the watershed for the lagoon itself.

What: San Dieguito Lagoon

Where: Del Mar, near the fairgrounds

Access: From Grand Avenue bridge, Del Mar. Crest Canyon has hiking trails with views of the lagoon.

Activities: Nature study and shoreline fishing, swimming where the lagoon meets the ocean west of the race track.

Environmental Status: A multijurisdictional organization has been organized to plan, manage and acquire the land for a park that includes the lagoon. Some earlier, limited restoration was completed by the California Coastal Conservancy.

LOS PENASQUITOS LAGOON

Visitors to Los Penasquitos Lagoon and its neighbor, Torrey Pines State Beach, today may be startled to learn that this lovely natural realm very nearly became the site of a nuclear power plant. That was 24 years ago, the subject of a much earlier environmental dispute.

Although the 385-acre lagoon was spared a nuclear plant, it is still threatened by massive construction projects in its flood plain that curtail the water flow and bring sand into the marshes and water areas. Since 1984, accidental spills of raw sewage into the lagoon have been a problem, closing Torrey Pines State Beach at times.

Although bathers sometimes paddle around or play in the sand at the westernmost parts of the lagoon where it reaches Torrey Pines beach, that is the extent of activity on the lagoon. There are no formal hiking trails, though bird-watching is possible from rim roads, including Carmel Valley and Sorrento Valley roads.

For the most part, Los Penasquitos has become mostly a “look at” lagoon. The best panorama of the estuary--in fact one of the most impressive views in all of California--is from the Torrey Pines State Reserve and its hiking trails. This is a popular spot for painters to set up easels and canvases. The outlook from northbound Torrey Pines Road as it drops down to the beach is remarkably beautiful as well.

Where: South of Del Mar, but within city of San Diego.

Access: No formal hiking trails. Access from Torrey Pines State Beach parking lot.

Activities: Swimming near Torrey Pines State Beach, bird-watching from various points along the lagoon.

Environmental Status: Mostly managed as a preserve by the city of San Diego and by the state and the California State Coastal Conservancy, though some land is privately owned. The lagoon continues to be filled as a result of massive earth-moving projects in its watershed.