At daybreak this past Saturday, early birds heading down Pacific Beach drive found a welcoming sight: open gates, San Diego Bird Alliance volunteers and staff arranging tables and canopies, and a steady stream of artists making their way into the marsh. Carts creaked across the dirt patch while artists clutched their easels and sketchbooks, wisely wrapped in hats and gloves against the morning chill. As dawn painted the sky in shades of purple and pink over the City’s parcel adjacent to Kendall-Frost, a gathering of plein air artists, urban sketchers, and watercolorists lined the shoreline, their eyes fixed on the rising tide. The year’s final King Tides swept in to meet their gaze, submerging all but the tallest cordgrass tips and the scattered floating platforms that dotted the water’s surface.
San Diego Bird Alliance hosted its annual Wandering the King Tides event on December 14th, a special edition of the regular Wander the Wetlands event held on the second and fourth Saturday of every month. Participants gathered to understand the mechanics of King Tides, catch up on ReWild’s latest developments, and channel their creative energy into artwork. Over cups of steaming coffee, we documented the extraordinary tides for the California King Tides Project while spotting an impressive 22 different bird species. The morning also offered a glimpse into the rich history of the land and its original inhabitants.
We were honored to welcome Council President Joe LaCava, whose leadership has been instrumental in advancing wetland restoration through the De Anza Plan. The morning also gave us a chance to celebrate Isabelle Kay, the outgoing UC Natural Reserves manager, whose decades of dedicated stewardship has been crucial to the marsh’s survival. Under her care, the Ridgway’s Rails have found a protected haven, their presence a testament to her tireless conservation work.
In partnership and crafted by local nonprofit Renascence, SDBA unveiled a new story map, exploring the ecology of Kendall-Frost marsh through the life and knowledge of Delfina Cuero (1900-1972), a Kumeyaay woman whose story embodies the profound displacement of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. Cuero lived throughout the traditional territories of the Kumeyaay people, spanning from Baja to northern San Diego County, in the early 1900s. Western expansion ultimately forced her into Mexico, where she was denied return to the United States due to lack of citizenship documentation—despite being born on these lands. Her autobiography vividly describes the landscape of her youth, detailing her intimate knowledge of local flora and fauna, and ultimately served as crucial testimony that enabled her return to her birthplace in 1967. As SDBA’s Community Connections Coordinator Ali Linton reflects, “I see this story map as a chance to look deeper into footprints of an incomplete past. It’s a journey of what I believe was experienced by many more unknown existences that have been lost to history. Hopefully these same experiences won’t be repeated again.”
While the story map preserves the historical memory of these wetlands, the gathered artists worked to capture its present-day beauty. Their diverse perspectives – from detailed avian studies to sweeping landscapes – documented a marsh transformed by the King Tides, offering a powerful visual reminder of what’s at stake as sea levels rise and wetland habitats face mounting pressures. The creative works captured a timelapse of the dramatic transformation under King Tides. This amazing array of perspectives will be featured in a special gallery at Love Your Wetlands Day this coming February. We were very lucky to welcome members from the California Art Club, Urban Sketchers, Watercolor Society, OMA Plein Air Artists, and SD Plein Air Meetup Group, whose diverse artistic interpretations help bring new audiences to wetland conservation through the universal language of art.
As the King Tides receded that morning, they left us with more than just dramatic views of a transformed marsh. Through art, history, and observation, we witnessed the continuing story of Mission Bay’s wetlands – from Delfina Cuero’s vivid descriptions of the landscape she knew, to the artists who captured its present-day beauty and vulnerability. We invite you to join us at Love Your Wetlands Day on February 5th, 2025, where the morning’s artwork will be displayed alongside the story map, offering a unique perspective on this precious ecosystem’s past, present, and the urgent need to protect its future.
