San Elijo Lagoon Restoration: A Glimpse Into Ballona's Future

Just a couple hours south of our Ballona Wetlands lies the San Elijo Lagoon, a remnant tidal wetlands on the coast between Encinitas and Solana Beach. Like many degraded coastal wetlands in California, San Elijo is presently undergoing a restoration that will remove fill dirt from past development and recreate tidal wetlands habitat in its place. To see for yourself, just drive south on I-5 to the Manchester exit and head toward the ocean. Park at the Nature Center on your left.

Above: Map of the various wetlands habitats which will grace the completed San Elijo Lagoon restoration project.

San Elijo’s restoration, like Ballona’s, was preceded by many years of study and planning to identify the best restoration approach and the optimal mix of wetlands habitats comprising the restored areas. Several years ago, San Elijo also navigated the Environmental Impact Report process, which Ballona is presently in the midst of. Construction at San Elijo has been underway for about a year, and will continue for another year or so.

Above: The eastern portion of San Elijo, like Ballona, is bisected by a major road (Interstate 5), surrounded by development and filled in with dirt from a century of grazing, farming and dumping.

A major element of the San Elijo plan is to widen and deepen the tidal channels to ensure regular ocean tidal flushing of existing and restored wetland areas. The Ballona plan also includes widening of tidal channels in the existing habitat south of Ballona Creek.

Above: A dredger in one of San Elijo’s tidal channels. The blue arrow shows areas already dredged, while the orange arrow shows areas yet to be widened.

Another part of the San Elijo plan calls for converting filled-in upland areas into vegetated wetlands marsh, just as the state proposes for the lands north of Ballona Creek. These Ballona lands are filled with 12-17 feet of weedy, dry fill dirt dredged from Marina Del Rey construction in the 1950s. Like San Elijo, major excavation will be required to remove all this fill dirt from Ballona and restore tidal wetlands in that area.

Above: Vegetation is first cleared from filled-in upland areas at San Elijo before fill dirt excavation can begin. The two persons in the photo are biologists walking in advance of the mowing equipment to flush out any vulnerable wildlife. Vegetation is cleared late in the year, after all nesting birds have left the area.

Above: A great Blue Heron fishes at San Elijo while construction proceeds nearby.

The Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project schedule is several years behind the San Elijo effort. Construction at Ballona won’t begin for some time, but when completed, it will produce the second largest public open space natural habitat area in the City of Los Angeles – second only to Griffith Park. The Ballona Wetlands “Great Park” will have miles of new bike and pedestrian trails, picnic and observation areas, and yes, even parking. Let’s look forward to that day when we can pedal over to our new Great Park and take in the peaceful beauty of nature.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

References:

San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy Website. https://sanelijoconservancy.bl...

2017. Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project. Draft Environmental Impact Report. State Clearinghouse No. 2012071090. https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHan...