As we’ve learned over the last several weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has thoroughly altered our daily lives, and profoundly affected our normal course of business and advocacy. While we navigate this unusual moment in modern history and maintain physical distancing, we’re continuing our work from home as best we can.
We’re still reaching out to elected officials and candidates for office, and recently met virtually with Councilmember Monica Montgomery and her team to deliver an update on our campaign.
And as our pre-pandemic rally at City Hall last month demonstrated, support among our environmental, labor, and community coalition members remains strong as we ask the mayor to include funding for the Wildest wetlands proposal in next year’s city budget.
Our coalition continues to grow too, with the addition of Aqua Adventures and San Diego Children and Nature, and we’re looking forward to leading more informational tours of our Mission Bay wetlands – and what can be even greater wetlands – when the worst of the pandemic passes.
And while investments in our city’s open space and natural habitat may seem more logical than ever in an era of physical distancing, those benefits also extend to wildlife and our local and migratory bird species, which have seen a catastrophic decline over the last 50 years. As we wrote in Times of San Diego in January, we can do our part here in San Diego by enhancing and expanding habitat.
An embrace of the Wildest plan by the city will also enable greater low-cost camping and recreation options along our bayfront – something we can all look forward to once the pandemic passes and we can safely gather in our park again.
None of us knows how long this extraordinary moment will last, but we know our outdoors and open space serves us all. An investment by the city in Mission Bay Park wetlands at the “Wildest” level will pay dividends for a healthier bay and environment, make our park more climate resilient, create greater habitat, and ensure cleaner water in our bay for everyone. That’s a future we’re committed to working toward.
If you have time, consider writing an op/ed piece to your local paper or preferred news source in support of ReWild Mission Bay and investments in our public places. Express what Mission Bay Park means to you, and why you’re a passionate supporter of wetland restoration in the northeast corner of Mission Bay, where Rose Creek and Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve retain a foothold of the area’s original wetlands and ecological bounty.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Andrew Meyer
Program Manager, ReWild Mission Bay
Tommy Hough
Campaign Coordinator, ReWild Mission Bay
