Table 18. List of endangered species known to utilize southern California 

 coastal wetlands (from USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 1980). 



Common name 



Scientific name 



Usual habitat 



American peregrine falcon 

 Brown pelican 

 Light-footed clapper rail 

 California least tern 

 Belding's savannah sparrow* 



Salt-marsh bird's beak 



Falco peregrinus anatum 

 Pelecanus occidentalis 



Over shorelines 

 Deep water 



Rallus longirostris levipes Lower marsh 



Sterna albifrons browni 



Passerculus sandwichensis 

 beldingi 



Cordylanthus maritimus 

 ssp. maritimus 



Unvegetated flats 

 Higher marsh 



Higher marsh 



•Listed by State of California only 



California is the 32-ha (80-ac) artificial 

 island constructed in south San Diego Bay 

 under the direction of the Port of San 

 Diego. This project was designed to 

 provide wildlife habitat in an area where 

 natural marshes have diminished 

 substantially, while greatly reducing 

 costs of dredge spoil disposal. Dredge 

 spoils were pumped from a nearby marina 

 development project to a diked area 

 between the intake and outflow channels of 

 the San Diego Gas & Electric Company power 

 plant. Dredging and spoil deposition were 

 completed in 1980, but the island is still 

 settling to elevations suitable for the 

 planned marsh habitat. [Determining the 

 state of the art of California's wetland 

 restoration projects is the topic of a 

 February 1982 Restoration Workshop, for 

 which proceedings will be available from 

 the Tiburon Center for Environmental 

 Studies, P. 0. Box 855, Tiburon, 

 California 94920.] The discussion here 

 will focus on marsh restoration concepts 

 and problems for southern California, 



The term "restoration" is used rather 

 loosely, since it is not clear what 

 pre-disturbance marshes were like, either 

 in structure or functioning. Since it is 



likely they were dynamic entities, as they 

 are now, one would have to pick some 

 arbitrary configuration to duplicate if 

 the objective were to return marshes to 

 their former, unimpaired condition. More 

 realistic and more practicable is a looser 

 application of the term, meaning to 

 improve or enhance the marsh in ways that 

 resemble ecologists' perception of 

 pre-settlement wetlands. For this, less 

 disturbed wetlands are used as a model, 

 and the characteristics described in 

 preceding chapters and summarized in Table 

 19 are the objectives. 



General recommendations for restoring 

 wetlands include: 



* Enhancement plans should build on 

 the assets of the modified wetland, 

 maintaining those features of highest 

 natural resource value, and planning 

 for improvements which will require 

 the least additional modification 

 (because they are most likely to be 

 successful). For example, if one 

 type of natural community exists, it 

 may be more feasible to expand this 

 area (by providing suitable 

 elevations, tidal circulation, or 



9A 



