Many people have contacted us regarding the heavy equipment in Rose Creek by Mission Bay Drive in Pacific Beach. If you haven’t seen it, check out the videos at the bottom of this post.
First, we request that you call or email Councilmember Joe LaCava ( 619-236-6611 or
JoeLaCava at sandiego dot gov) to request all mitigation for this damage be done in the stretch of Rose Creek between the southern end of Marian Bear Natural Park and the bottom of the destroyed area.
Second, we request that you ask for restoration or recreation a wildlife corridor in the concrete channel that was destroyed by this work.
What happened and why is the City of San Diego destroying our wetlands?
On January 22nd, San Diego experienced heavy rainfall that caused significant flooding in Chollas Creek, destroying homes and leaving residents homeless. This led to the County of San Diego being declared a disaster zone, federal dollars flowing into the region, and the City reacting in a knee jerk fashion. Rather than focus on planned improvements to Chollas Creek to protect and enhance a community that bore the brunt of the City of San Diego’s flooding, the Storm Water Department received an emergency permit to use at least some of the funding to bulldoze wetland habitat in Pacific Beach and 65 other sections of what the City calls their Storm Channel Maintenance System, and what we call creeks and rivers.
Eddie Salinas, Deputy Director of the Storm Water Department – Operations Division said the City will start planning for mitigation once the destruction has completed. But it didn’t have to be this way. For almost twenty years, the Friends of Rose Creek have been calling for selective maintenance. In other words, remove the invasive non-natives that are clogging up the channels, but leave the native plants that provide habitat for native bees, butterflies, and birds. Focus on working with nature to protect homes from flooding, while creating co-beneficial uses such as nature in our backyards, cooling islands that help offset the increasingly concrete landscape, and provide our children places to see wildlife in their own community.
Haven’t seen it for yourself? Then watch these videos.
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