critical stopping place along the Pacific 

 Flyway. It was one of only a few water bodies 

 along the southern California coast that had 

 escaped dissection by highways or railways. 



The ecosystem was international in scope, 

 with most of its watershed in Mexico and the 

 estuary entirely within the U.S. Finally, it 

 had proven its value as a research site. 

 Tijuana Estuary's salt marshes were included 

 in the earliest published work on the subject 

 (Purer 1942). Numerous ecological studies 

 were conducted prior to designation, including 

 those on fishes (Ford et al. 1971), marsh 

 vegetation (Zedler 1977), the endangered 

 light-footed clapper rail (Jorgensen 1975), 

 historic tide lines (Bradshaw and Phillips, 

 unpubl. ms.), benthic invertebrates (Smith 

 1974; Peterson 1975; Hosmer 1977; 

 Homziak 1977), the food value of detritus 

 (Williams 1979, 1981), vascular plant 

 productivity (Winfield 1980, Zedler et al. 

 1980), epibenthic algal mats (Zedler 1980, 

 1982a), and shorebird use (Boland 1981). 



Important victories that preceded 

 sanctuary status were won by Pat and Mike 

 McCoy, who persuaded the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service to purchase private lands for the 

 Endangered Species Refuge. The McCoys also 

 founded the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive 

 Association to continue nature conservation 

 work. A large number of activists convinced 

 decision-makers not to dredge the estuary for 

 a marina and not to replace Tijuana River 

 with a concrete flood control channel. 



National Estuarine Research Reserve 

 status shaped the future of Tijuana Estuary. 

 It designated the California Department of 

 Parks and Recreation as the lead agency to 

 implement the Reserve and made possible the 

 development of a management plan (Dobbin 

 Associates 1986). It established a 

 Management Authority with broad 

 representation, including resource agencies, 

 the county, and two cities. A manager (Paul 

 Jorgensen) and an education coordinator (Pat 

 Flanagan) were employed. Several parcels of 

 land were acquired for the Reserve, including 

 land being held as a possible site for a power 

 plant. Funding for a visitor center followed, 

 and the Visitor Center at 301 Caspian Way, 

 Imperial Beach, was completed in 1990. 



Setting the estuary aside for research, 

 education, and interpretation was a 

 tremendous accomplishment. It was the 

 culmination of more than a decade of efforts to 

 protect the area from intensive development, 

 but it was by no means the end of controversy. 

 Nor did it solve a multitude of resource 

 management problems. A few of the 

 challenges that remain are sedimentation 

 events that accompany catastrophic floods and 

 reduce tidal influence; the continual 

 movement of undocumented aliens that cross 

 the international border and move through the 

 estuary; the trampling of coastal vegetation, 

 which exposes erodible dunes to wind and 

 storm damage; occasional dune washovers 

 when sea storms wash the sand into the 

 estuary, where it clogs tidal channels; 

 occasional spills of sewage down the border 

 canyons and into the estuary; discharge of raw 

 sewage from Tijuana, Mexico, which has 

 changed the intermittent stream into a 

 continuously flowing "blackwater river;" 

 unremitted filling in the river valley, which 

 has constricted the river and increased flood 

 risks, and development along the periphery of 

 the estuary and river valley. 



Tijuana Estuary is not a pristine system, 

 but it has high potential for restoration. 

 Current plans are to eliminate wastewater 

 inflows, restore tidal circulation to the 

 southern half of the estuary by removing 

 accumulated sediments, stabilize the dunes 

 with native vegetation, improve control of 

 people who use and pass through the estuary, 

 and enhance populations of native species that 

 have declined as the estuary's tidal life- 

 support system has diminished. Chapter 6 

 provides more detail on where and how these 

 improvements will be made. 



1.7 THE NATIONAL ESTUARINE 



RESEARCH RESERVE (NERR) 



The 2,531-acre (1,024 ha) NERR site 

 (Figure 1.4) includes the 505-ac (204 ha) 

 Endangered Species Refuge owned by the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), 551 ac 

 (223 ha) of Navy Land that is administered 

 by US FWS, the 418-ac (169 ha) Border 



