ICOET FIELDTRIP

Transportation Challenges in Coastal San Diego County

This trip will begin with a stop at the South Bay Unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. With 90-100% of submerged lands, intertidal mudflats and salt marshes eliminated in the north and central San Diego Bay, the South San Diego Bay refuge, dedicated in 1999, will preserve and restore the remaining wetlands, mudflats and eel grass beds to help ensure the survival of the bay’s thousands of migrating and resident shorebirds and waterfowl. The bay supports numerous endangered and threatened species of plants and animals and is a vital link to other wildlife areas. All of the refuges in the San Diego Refuge Complex have been designated "Globally Important Bird Areas" by the American Bird Conservancy. The South San Diego Bay Refuge was recently designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve site.

The tour will proceed north along the Silver Strand, a narrow neck of land that connects the mainland to Coronado “Island” and separates San Diego Bay from the Pacific Ocean. From Coronado, the tour will head across the Bay on the Coronado Bridge, and then up the coast on I-5. This leg of the trip will explore the challenges and opportunities for collaboration and stewardship on the 26-mile-long North Coast Corridor Project, and will include a picnic lunch on the beach.

Heading east, participants will visit to the Pilgrim Creek Mitigation Bank, which is managed by Caltrans. Returning south on I-15, participants will see the effects and restoration challenges posed by the devastating 2003-04 wildfires, which were followed by the torrential rains of 2004-05.

Click for photos of the Coastal Field Trip.