By: Cindy J. Lin
Published by the Times of San Diego
In the upcoming decades, the best way for San Diego to endure unpredictable and extreme weather events is to strongly and proactively protect and expand our vulnerable last remaining 1% of coastal wetlands and marshes in Mission Bay.
Wetlands help protect our way of life by improving water quality, absorbing storm surges, adapting to high-tide flooding, and protecting our existing infrastructure, which includes our homes, parks, and businesses. As an ecologist and business owner here in San Diego, I know how critical wetlands are to our people and economy.
Mission Bay, with its amazing collection of marshes, habitats, and recreational areas, is a critical San Diego resource, and a significant draw for tourism, businesses, and growing tech companies. Some of the nation’s top tech companies have built satellite offices in San Diego because of the city’s natural resources, climate and growing talent pool.
However, our San Diego mainstay, Mission Bay and its coastal wetlands and marsh habitat, are currently being threatened by short-sighted city planning. The San Diego City Council is not prioritizing the most protective, “wildest” restoration plan, that is backed by science and would ensure the highest level of resiliency for sea level rise and flooding.
Instead, the council continues to back the so-called “natural” plan with the least wetland and habitat protection. This plan would protect the smallest marsh and upland habitat and prevent public access to our beaches due to costly, gated RV camping that most San Diegans don’t get to enjoy.
As citizens in San Diego, we can change this trend. On Tuesday, the council will be taking its final vote on an amendment to the Mission Bay Park Master Plan. If the council supports the natural plan, as previously recommended by the Environment Committee, the natural protections and economic benefits enjoyed by all San Diegans will be lost. Without having the most protective, wildest plan, we would continue to experience poor water quality at the mouth of Rose Creek, lose critical flooding resiliency, potentially lose commercial benefits, and have limited, if any, public access at De Anza Point.
The city has the ReWild Mission Bay project to thank for educating our community about the wetland restoration opportunity in Mission Bay, and the wildest alternative shows that 315 acres of restored habitat is the best investment we can make. According to UC San Diego scientists and economists, the benefits reaped from expanding our wetlands to the wildest plan would reach $2.85 million annually.
Although coastal wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, we are losing them to a land developments. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we are losing 80,000 acres of coastal wetlands every year due to erosion, sea level rise, and development. This is like losing seven football fields of wetlands every hour!
According to the Pacific Institute, we can expect to see seal level rise of 3.3 to 4.6 feet by the year 2100. San Diego is already experiencing a $1.6 billion shortfall to address flood control upgrades and other stormwater projects, and destroying our wetlands would make flooding worse. These natural flood protection habitats are crucial to our environmental future.
In the last few years, San Diego has experienced too many extreme weather events, including the floods this past January and February that caused thousands to lose their homes and businesses. With a changing climate, these storms will increase and costs will skyrocket for taxpayers to help mitigate the damage.
Why would the City Council not take this opportunity to maximize the natural benefits of our wetlands and marsh habitats? These habitats do it better than any human-made infrastructure.
Every one of us who live in San Diego should take this issue personally. If you live in San Diego or are visiting, and you surf, kayak, walk on the beach, or just sit in the park, help us continue to enjoy all that Mission Bay can provide for our environment and economy. Please let your council representatives know how critical it is to support the wildest option for Mission Bay.
Cindy J. Lin is chair of the environmental health committee of the nonprofit Business for Good San Diego.