Your senses are inundated as you walk along the water’s edge. You smell salt air and sage. You hear songbirds and the sound of water lapping on the shore. The colors caused by the sun setting into the ocean catch your eyes as a light ocean breeze sweeps your skin.

To many this may sound like the end of a perfect day on a dream vacation, but as residents of Encinitas, we know that it can be an everyday stroll around the San Elijo Lagoon.

Let’s face it, we’re blessed to live in Encinitas. Nestled peninsula-like with the Pacific Ocean to the west, Batiquitos Lagoon to the North and San Elijo Lagoon to the South, we’re privileged to be buffered with natural treasures that are not only pleasant to view, but which provide us with additional recreational and environmental benefits.

Sometimes, we may take the San Elijo Lagoon for granted as we drive by or over it on our daily commutes, but aside from the great views, which offer a brief respite from the urbanized landscapes, this protected habitat also serves to help us maintain the unique appeal of our city.

While not always the protected reserve that it now is, the San Elijo Lagoon has been a draw for animal and human life in this area for eons.

Archaeological evidence indicates that local American Indians were living along the lagoon shores at least 8,500 years ago, feasting on the abundant shellfish and other fish in its waters. Additionally, the plant and animal life from the surrounding lands provided food, shelter and medicine for those people.

Europeans first encountered the lagoon on July 16, 1769 when the Portola expedition came through the area. Father Junipero Serra is said to have named the lagoon San Alejo in honor of Saint Alexius whose feast day occurs on July 17. When the expedition initially encountered it, the lagoon was a fully functioning tidal estuary, open to the sea, and the explorers found it necessary to skirt along the eastern edge of the lagoon as they moved northward.

Although ranchos were carved out in our area and some settlements affected the watershed upstream, the lagoon itself remained relatively unchanged until the 1880s when settlers began to populate the Encinitas area in more significant numbers. The colony at Olivenhain and the MacKinnon property in what is now Cardiff-by-the-Sea, were among the first major settlements surrounding the lagoon.

However, in 1887, the Santa Fe Railroad built a narrow gauge rail line that crossed near the mouth of the lagoon. The railroad’s berm effectively reduced the lagoon mouth, thus becoming the first major impedance to the natural tidal flow of the lagoon. From that time on many dikes and levees were constructed, further encroaching upon the lagoon’s nature. The construction of the Pacific Coast Highway in 1912 further constricted the lagoon mouth to a tiny channel at the north end. Damming upstream and a greater number of dikes, levees and duck ponds changed the lagoon to the point where, by 1940, the water quality had severely deteriorated. To make matters worse, at this same time the communities of Encinitas, Escondido and Solana Beach began dumping sewage effluent into lagoon waters, a practice that continued for over 30 years. The construction of Interstate 5 in 1965, with an even larger berm than that of the railroad, was perhaps the greatest single change affecting the lagoon overall in that it completely bisected the lagoon.

By the late 1960s the lagoon was sick. Its outflow impeded and its waters clogged, it had become a reeking, insect-laden swamp. But developers saw potential and more than one idea was proposed to capitalize on the lagoon real estate. Housing developments, amusement parks, fishing lakes, there was even talk of filling the lagoon in, as had been done to similar habitats in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Fortunately for us, the timing of these proposed developments coincided with the beginnings of the ecology movement. In 1970, the San Elijo Alliance was formed by local citizens who banded together to serve as advocates for the preservation and restoration of the natural habitat. Later, in 1976, the San Elijo Lagoon Foundation formed and joined the fight. These groups lobbied State and County governments for years. Eventually, their efforts paid off and the County and State came to a management agreement for the lagoon. It took awhile but, finally, in 1983, the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve was formally dedicated to the public.

It was the start of the current era for the lagoon. Now the citizens of the area were able to become not just advocates, but stewards working in conjunction with governmental agencies to nurse the lagoon back to health.

In 1987, the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy was founded. The group later merged with the San Elijo Lagoon Foundation to become a single entity. In 1988, the county built a nature center. Trails were improved and maintained and efforts were made to help dredge the lagoon channel to allow a greater tidal inflow and bring its waters back to life. As progress was made the reserve began to evolve to its present day incarnation.

Thus, the coastal treasure that we have today is not nearly the same as the free-flowing estuary encountered by the Spaniards in 1769, but it is a crucial element to the quality of life in the area.

Thanks to the decades of effort by concerned citizens and scientists, today’s San Elijo Lagoon is a true urban oasis. Encompassing nearly 1,000 acres, the reserve has six trail heads and nearly six miles of trails. The reserve supports six distinct plant communities: Coastal Strand; Salt Marsh; Freshwater/Brackish Marsh; Riparian Scrub; Coastal Sage Scrub; and Mixed Chaparral.

The lagoon serves as the home for nearly 700 species of birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants. Several endangered or threatened species regularly visit or call the lagoon home. The reserve is also visited by no less than 50,000 persons each year. Many of the human visitors come to see San Elijo’s abundant flora and fauna.

Of all the non-human residents and visitors, it seems that the birds are the largest attraction. Birders from the world over come to San Elijo simply to see the numerous bird species, which include several threatened and endangered species. Located along the Pacific flyway, a major avian migratory route, over 320 bird species, representing 40 percent of all North American bird species, have been seen at the lagoon over the years. Monthly bird counts regularly show that, in any given month, anywhere from 74 to 126 species can be found in and around the lagoon and its environs.

Keeping the water clean is a way to ensure that these visitors have a healthy environment and food to eat. An endowment to maintain the lagoon mouth open was established in 1999 and with it came an almost immediately noticeable improvement in the quality of the lagoon water. This affects the food chain all the way up. Aquatic invertebrates and insects serve as food for smaller bait fish which are born in coastal lagoons and, later, serve as sustenance for larger game species such as halibut and tuna. Birds also survive on the smaller fish, while humans enjoy the others.

A healthy lagoon also serves to make life better for beach goers in that it filters runoff from the watershed allowing us to keep our beaches open.

Moving into the future, the goal of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy and the agencies that co-manage the lagoon is to ensure that, not only does the lagoon survive for future generations, but that it flourishes.

Projects are already in the making. For instance, a new 5,600-square-foot Nature Center is currently under construction at the site of the old center located off Manchester Avenue. This building, expected to be completed by the end of 2008, was carefully planned to complement the lagoon environment, as well as the ethic of the conservancy. The two-story building will be powered by solar panels and cooled by windows that capture the sea breezes. Insulated by recycled jeans and cotton fibers, the wood used will be made from easily replenished sources, including sorghum. The eventual goal is to have the building certified ‘green.’ The center will be at the forefront of future efforts to educate the public about the benefits of maintaining and restoring our lagoons and California’s coastline.

Much work is still to be done. Currently, studies have been and continue to be conducted and options weighed as to which methods will best work to restore more of the natural tidal flushing that keeps the lagoon healthy and contributes to the health of our local beaches. Other concerns are how to mitigate the effects of increasing urbanization and population growth in the area. This growth has resulted in more pollutants finding their way into lagoon waters. Among these pollutants is fresh water from inhabitants and rainfall. While most of us would not think of fresh water as a pollutant, the loss of natural drainage due to paving (asphalt, concrete, etc.) means that more freshwater enters the lagoon, changing the delicate balance of the estuary and inhibiting its ability to filter other contaminants. Educating the public remains key, as does funding. It should be noted that some endowments have been set up to maintain current efforts to protect the lagoon, but that future projects will require the help of citizens to come to fruition.

While it is not a fully restored coastal estuary, the San Elijo Lagoon is one of San Diego County’s largest and most important coastal estuaries. It is a crucial part of what makes our area one of the most beautiful places in the country. It not only provides us with a brief visual respite from the sights and sounds of modern society, but with a place where humans and non-humans alike can enjoy a spot that, thanks to the efforts of many, will continue to provide a greater quality of life for all our residents. •

For more information, visit www.sanelijo.org or call the San Elijo Conservancy office at (760) 436-3944.