ENHANCING OUR SOUTH SAN DIEGO BAY WETLAND HABITAT AND RECREATION AREAS

Sometimes you may wonder..”How does one woo a wetland?”  Things like this often cross our mind here at WILDCOAST.  So when we were making our Valentines Day plans this year, we thought “What could be more romantic than pulling out blighted chain link fences out of mud?!”  So that’s exactly what we did.  In the spirit of Valentines Day, we attempted to woo our beautiful San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge by working with amazing volunteers to pull out blighted chain link fences from wetland habitat.

This past Saturday, WILDCOAST, the City of Imperial Beach, US Fish and Wildlife Service and YMCA Armed Services volunteers joined together to remove blighted chain link fences from wetland habitat in the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Imperial Beach.  This important initiative is part a larger effort by WILDCOAST to restore habitat and increase access to the bayfront.

During the event, 17 volunteers from YMCA Armed Services worked with WILDCOAST and US Fish and Wildlife staff to remove 100 feet of unused chain link fences from sensitive wetland habitat.  The fence removal, part of WILDCOAST’s Scenic South Bay Vision Project, is a collaborative effort to beautify wetland and coastal shoreline in Imperial Beach and South San Diego Bay, and restore habitat in the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  The Vision project is engaging volunteers in cleanups, fence removal, restoration activities and community beatification projects this year.

(Before and after shots of the fence removal site)

“Removal of blighted fences is crucial to restoring and improving public access in the South Bay and WILDCOAST will be planning future events to engage the community these efforts,” said John Holder, Border Coordinator at WILDCOAST.

We would like to thank the City of Imperial Beach Public Works Department, YMCA Armed Services Coordinator Lorenzo Inzunza, US Fish and Wildlife Refuge Manager Brian Collins, Mar Vista High School Poseidon Volunteers and of course, all the incredible Armed Service volunteers who came to help out!

Our next South Bay event is February 21st at 7th St and Boulevard Ave.  We will begin at 9:30 am!  See flyer below and let us know if you any questions and hope to see you there!