The Ecology of Tijuana Estuary, California: An Estuarine Profile

demonstrated successas but by the absence ot
documanted farsures (Pedler, rw Dress bb
At 8:juans Esiwary, the restaratton of bad8ybrsturb~d
Boreas is needad, and snhancaratilnk 0%
ress-dasturbed shies wa~fld useful First,
howaver, the ~pe~tflc goals sf ras!oraZnaw end
onhencement must be laad out, and craterrd tor
judging theta' aashtav@ment astablashod Wtth a legilscale
~Pan for falture grgflacts, tha Management
Aur'taoaroty wuld bt? able 10 res~oncl $0 sDDcPrtunrtaes
Qor lundtng such project$ Trguena Estuary has
already been selected for two off-srte mittgalton
prolsct%, both to onktrgate habrtaat losses wrthrn Sen
Larego Bay
In the absence of a @Eamprehenstv@
asstorntiion pian, gnecem@al aiteratron$ of frjuan~l
Estuary to take advantage of mitigattan funds e m
be mar@ harmful than beneficial
For axarnpiiil, tn 1983, rt was sl~ggested that two
dtkes wlthrn the abandoned sewage !&goons b@
breached an lrrder tea urnprove tidal ffustlrng and
rsolata Or?@ drke segment as an resland, and that
sand ba placed on that islend to era&tca least tern
nosting habstet The nrogssed enhancement was
intended ta mittgate an sarlto;r, non-permrtted 1111
opefafaon tn San Orego Bey b10wever, the
f>rrrpaasecd excavations wauad have created stagslant
pool%, the excesscve dredging would have lawsred
watar queDaly by exposing burrad sewage studpa,
the Dropossb us@ of rock to skebslras cut slopes
would have antroXd~icad ferca~ggr auhstratse ta the
w~llsnd, and VB~UB~
COQ~Q~BSS hebrtat would have
been aannecessarrriy aitmrnaled Just prrar to
rm~l@ra18ntatr~n, sn alternative excavation darjtgn
was rscammendesl and enforced by the F~sh and
Wildlefe Seswlcfs. Unlortunat@ly, spe~rltc goa2ffs were
rabt ~n~r~leratod and na4 meehanrsrn was grravlcleaf
for rrfoar%st.rr.ag chigngss or assessing the success a!
the '%nharrcexnen?'"
Altnr dike bfeackrng, the
northernmost sewage lagoon dtd have tncreassd
trdal ffuslarng, but rsoIatian of the dike sysl@m did
not $top catsrne or human rntrudarr; {a second
mlik8gstson wt19 now ~ffempt to accomgllsh that
objecttrsel Fur!hermore. depesttron of sand an Esp
of ltha dake ssilaalel strmulated, rather than preciiuded.
vc;(jietatave trnvasnort la! intended tern nsslrng
rsiando;
Bn anstbar raStarR t!Qn prolac!, weedy vegotat~sn
In the dlsturhad utdyland transtaacan nortkwsst of the
tnasarad lawon was to be eradtcated and repiaced
wblh rratava %psctri?s Burnrng was abteamyked but
hres do4 not sf~read over the srte, thus, about 10
acres of habitsat were dtsked and sawn with native
plant seeds Wowsvtzr. weedy species reinvaded
saptdly, and oniy a few natrvs plants became
estabaisktad baler, the upland transitran just north
of !he inland lagoan was cle&rexcd of debrrs anel
weeas an@ repianted with notttve tragst&t~on In thts
eaae, e bu#ldozar scraped tkta stta and ancrsmched
kipon patches of natfvs vegetation Again. weedy
species qu~ckly ralnvadod, plus sorrlie ptckteweed
wns dafnaged kt 15 clear !ram both of these
attempts to restore ths wetland-u@(l&nd transrttan,
that we knaw too Ittlle amtat the control of sxolic
pIartts gfrrd !he astabird~nt@nt of native t"rg@cin,%
irn the above cases, thera were benef~ts, tn that
trash and ddbrts were remcrvcad frerr~ the wetland
Sttll, the restoration goats wsrs rlat achrsvad
Exp@rrxne;nlatrora with ~arafkfl f~atd supervtsion I$
tleeded Far future prsjects, we recammend that, ca;
sctont~ftc ngvoach b used, so that there la
greater ~otant~al
understand haw and why
rezltorntrart measures succeed or lad
frluana Estuary has arl important rala Is fulfill
wlitahn southern Californl~ Tha gloat of ras@arch ts
to provrde !ha tnformatron neglrJerJ ta improve
rr~ertagsmsnt of t h ~ ra~!~n"$ ~J~OC~BUB w@Cianhf
resources By understanding hew onvironmenlal
conditions afkck swctes drstnbultans arrd
abundance, we; hope lo smcify kovv ecosystems
6an be manrperlatt;d to achteve deslrad rssufts<
Passive management wtii nat bs suffici@nt ta
matnlstn ths rlaturai davtlrsrty of habitats and lhatr
native species Tha need for scot@chnalagy is
clear