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Welcome to Preserve Calavera
The mission of Preserve Calavera is to protect, enhance, and restore the natural resources of coastal north San Diego County.
Melrose Road Extension
The settlement of our lawsuit with the city of Oceanside over the Melrose Extension project is a great example of how our efforts benefit the priceless natural resources of this area, the nearby residents who end up paying the price for poorly planned projects, and the taxpayers who foot the bill for it all. Through our efforts this project will cause a lot less damage- and save taxpayers from $ 5-10m dollars. The proposed extension of Melrose Dr from N. Santa Fe to Spur was a 124’ wide 6 lane divided highway with costs estimated up to $ 30m. Our settlement agreement included the following changes : project delayed until after City Council hearing is held on the Circulation Element and a Parkland Conversion Plan is prepared; the extension of Melrose will be reduced from 6 lanes to 4 lanes and right-of-way from 124’ wide to 84’; other roads effected by the project will also be designed to reduce wetland impacts; the wildlife movement corridor will be improved through culvert design, fencing, signage, and protecting the connection under Guajome Lake Rd to the east; run-off control will use low impact design and be properly maintained; invasive species will be removed within construction and staging limits and native plants will be used for project landscaping; construction traffic plan will be prepared; better air quality mitigation will be provided during project construction; a cowbird trapping program will be provided; and conservation easements will be applied to all property acquired but not used for the road to protect agricultural uses.
Buena Vista Creek Ecological Reserve
Our work restoring the 134-acre Buena Vista Creek Ecological Reserve continues. We successfully completed the restoration of the first 1.8 acres last year, with a grant from the So. CA Wetlands Recovery Project. We then secured $ 395k to be used for the next phase of restoration from penalties imposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board in response to a sewer spill that caused extensive damage in the Buena Vista Watershed. This Phase II work is being managed by the Center for Natural Lands Management. As part of that effort we are caring for a small plot that requires hand weeding and watering. Our volunteers disassembled and hand carried the old irrigation system across the creek to be re-used on the next restoration plot. This area has had the first round of new plants installed with more planned for this fall. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer to help with this restoration- volunteer teams are out there every two weeks- watering, weeding and mulching. Thank you to the El Corazon Green Waste Facility (Agribusiness) for supplying all of the mulch our little plants desire
Update on Carlsbad High School
We continue to work with the staff of the Carlsbad Unified School District to reduce the impacts from the new high school now under construction at College/Cannon. have settled our lawsuit with the Carlsbad Unified School District over the proposed new high school at College/Cannon. We can all be proud that our efforts will result in both a better project and a better educational experience for the children of this community. Current focus now is on Transportation Demand Management programs to reduce the traffic (and wildlife roadkill) and integrating the natural lands that surround the school into the curriculum.
Development at Quarry Creek
The toxic clean-up of contaminated soil and water has now entered its final phases- relying on natural attenuation to reduce the remnants of the old leaking gasoline storage tanks to acceptable levels. Reclamation of the old mine site is in high gear with lots of heavy equipment starting the process to restore the land to a safe and usable condition. Meanwhile McMillin, the developer of the site, has submitted an application to build 656 residential units on this land. The City of Carlsbad recently modified their Housing Element to increase the number of affordable housing units at this site from 500 to 506. In spite of city policies that say affordable housing should not be concentrated, the city apparently thinks putting almost 1/3 of the remaining affordable units to be built at this single site is perfectly fine. We don’t think this is the way to treat the sacred El Salto waterfall. The city of Carlsbad is currently in the process of updating their General Plan. Tell them what you think about putting 506- 656 homes in this valley.
Endangered Species Day 2011
This is the first time we participated in this national event- and what fun it was! We used it to call attention to a few of our local endangered species- from least Bell’s vireo to orange throated whiptail and threadleaved brodeia. Our contest for the best public education display was won by for their display on least Bell’s vireo. The two students who won the ESA contest are Kerri Blosch and Gina Pace. Our thanks to all of the students who participated by making educational displays and recycled art projects using trash from the BVCER. We are looking for other venues to display these great art works- let us know if you have any suggestions.
Property Acquisition
Its official- the Sherman property (named for the landowner who sold this area for preservation) is now the Buena Vista Creek Ecological Reserve. Mark Read prepared a new video about this area- using the great program done by KOCT. Click on this link to view the video (requires Apple Quicktime).
The 180-acre Quarry site stands between the El Salto Falls and the Reserve. What do you want to see there? Dense housing or a a park around the sacred El Salto waterfall and continuation of the natural creek flowing towards the Lagoon. The Luiseno people have revered this valley for thousands of years. Prehistoric hearths and shell middens attest to the abundance they found here. The historic Marron Adobe reminds us of the not so distant past, when early settlers found the valley a perfect spot to raise their families. Today, it is still a spectacular place, with a rich diversity of plants and animals. Some rare, like the Willow Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo and Orange-throated Whiptail and some we are more familiar with, like the Gray Fox, Coyote and Cottontails. It is also a regional wildlife movement corridor. This is a very special place with a unique combination of natural, cultural, and historical resources found nowhere else on earth. Keeping the entire valley intact and protected will be a wonderful legacy for ourselves and future generations- and that is why it remains our top priority for acquisition... Click here to view our Vision for the Buena Vista Creek Valley.
But of course our vision for preserving our natural lands does not stop with acquiring this one parcel. We have a long list of acquisition we are working on, from getting them on the city of Carlsbad Open Space list, actively seeking grant funds, working with national organizations like The Trust for Public Land, targeting key parcels for mitigation, and doing whatever we can to raise public awareness and the political will and resources to permanently preserve our priceless local natural lands.
Wildlife Movement Corridors
Karen and her intrepid wildlife tracking team continue quarterly wildlife surveys. We have now gone beyond just surveying and reporting to actually preparing formal wildlife movement studies and identifying key areas where physical changes are needed to support wildlife movement- particularly around roadways where inadequate crossings all too often result in roadkill. In some cases very simple changes are needed such as creating small openings under chain link fences or adding some fencing to funnel wildlife away from roads and toward a safe culvert or undercrossing. In others a costly retrofit is the best solution- such as under Palomar Airport Road. We continue to work with technical experts and a broad range of stakeholders to try to make safe corridors for our local wildlife. Let us know if you would like to join our local wildlife tracking teams – it’s a great way to experience our natural lands- and help protect our wildlife at the same time
2008 National Wetlands Award
Diane Nygaard was selected for the national 2008 Wetlands Award in the category of Wetland Community Leader. This annual program of the Environmental Law Institute awards 6 individuals who exemplify excellence and innovation in wetlands protection, restoration and education. The program is co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, Army Corps of Engineers, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, U S Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service. The awards ceremony will be May 13 in Washington DC. (For more information on the awards program visit http://www.nationalwetlandsawards.org).
Over the past decade, Diane has worked tirelessly to raise the awareness of local leaders and the community-at-large about the importance of, and threats to, our local wetlands. Under her leadership, Preserve Calavera has become the largest conservation group in north San Diego County. She has exemplified how members of the public can participate in wetland protection and restoration by: providing informed written and oral comments that have led to avoidance and minimization of wetland impacts from development; helping secure key acquisitions; organizing community wetland restoration projects; collecting stream characterization data; writing stream buffer guidelines; and training volunteers to monitor frog populations. She has led scores of hikes, organized Oak tree plantings, led creek clean-ups and invasive plant removals, gathered and cooked edible non-native plants for our ‘Eat the Invasives’ picnics and manned tables at countless community events so the local residents would have the opportunity to learn about the importance of wetlands protection. Diane has helped stem the tide of historic wetland loss in San Diego County.
We are extremely proud of our intrepid leader and feel she is so very deserving of this prestigious recognition! Diane believes this is a shared-honor……. "Of course, all of you and the thousands of other community activists working to protect wetlands are all deserving of such recognition. I can only accept it as a symbol of all of our work."
Annual Newsletter
December marked the end of another year, and our ninth year working to preserve, protect and enhance the natural resources of coastal north county. Our thanks to everyone whose time, talent and donations made the successes of 2010 possible.
We know times are tough for everyone, and donations are down across the board for non-profits. We have decided to tighten our belts, reduce costs and focus on core projects that will best carry out our mission. Now, more than ever, we need your time, talent, and donations to be able to continue our work in 2011. As part of our cost cutting we will not be mailing an annual fundraising appeal. . But we still need you to respond - with whatever amount or in whatever way works for you. For some that may be committing volunteer time. For others a financial donation. Donations can be made through our website at http://www.preservecalavera.org/donate.html or by mailing a check to Preserve Calavera at 5020 Nighthawk Way, Oceanside, CA 92056. Click on this link for an online version of our annual fundraising letter. Please consider a tax deductible year-end donation to Preserve Calavera. The plants, wildlife and future generations of north county will all thank you.
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