San Elijo Lagoon Inlet Update – January 2025

Inlet at San Elijo Lagoon with a temporary channel
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 Aquatic Dredge Sand Removal to Begin February 14

Nature Collective is thrilled to share that, after nearly a year of diligent and dedicated work to address the challenge of sand accumulation in the lagoon’s main channel and inlet, we have secured a majority of the $2.7-million in project funding from SANDAG as part of adaptive management for the San Elio Lagoon Restoration Project. We have also secured the required permits from the California Coastal Commission, the City of Encinitas, and California State Parks to deploy an aquatic dredge that will remove the sand build-up from the San Elijo channel and place sand on Cardiff State Beach.

The dredge operation, operated by Pacific Dredge and Construction, will take 8-10 weeks and begin on February 14, 2025. The project will involve aquatic dredging east of the Coast Highway 101 bridge in Cardiff-by-the-Sea to the San Elijo Lagoon Nature Center, followed by a land-based excavation west of the Coast Highway 101 bridge.

Map of sand placementAbove: Map of Sand Placement

Once deployed, the dredge will run 24/7 and pump approximately 70,000 cubic yards of sand onto Cardiff State Beach, which will be placed in front of the Chart House restaurant. If San Diego experiences winter storms during the project timeline, we will also place sand on the Cardiff Living Shoreline dune project. 

Sanderling DrdgeAbove: Sanderling Dredge

In September 2024 the dredge assigned to this project was in Florida and transferred to a Louisiana Shipyard to begin the re-power, efficiency, and reliability modifications, including retrofitting for California clean air standards and adding a new 910hp John Deere tier 4 engine and new GIW 12×14 pump. The timeline for the modifications and retrofitting was heavily impacted by the disruptions of hurricanes Helene and Milton causing a project delay. The dredge was then trucked to San Diego for the remaining work, which is happening now.

Sand accumulation west of Coast Highway 101 Above: Sand accumulation west of Coast Highway 101

Once the aquatic dredging is complete, the land-based excavation at the mouth of the lagoon (west of Highway 101) will commence. This project will take 2-3 days and remove an additional 10,000 cubic yards of sand from the inlet, which will also be placed in front of the Chart House restaurant.

Our daily water quality monitoring has brought great news despite the extended inlet blockage. The newly restored system has shown remarkable resilience, sustaining marine life with limited negative impacts for over six months of inlet closure. Our current data suggests that this success can be attributed to removing high-nutrient materials from the channels during the restoration project. Before the wetland restoration, our data showed that a closed inlet would have insufficient oxygen levels within seven days.

With the recent series of King Tides, the lagoon is experiencing flooding due to water entering it and being unable to leave because of sand accumulation. Flooding from high tides is natural, but prolonged flooding can affect the cord grass and pickleweed habitat, home to the endangered Ridgway’s Rail and Belding’s Savannah Sparrow. The inlet opening will occur at the beginning of bird nesting season so that water levels will decrease as this season commences.

While some bird habitat has been impacted, other birds, including waterfowl, enjoy the lagoon’s lake-like appearance, and migratory birds stop to rest and refuel as they make their way along the Pacific Flyway. Join us at our Wings Over Wetland Family Festival to learn about San Elijo Lagoon’s resident and migratory birds.

We want to thank our partners and supporters who have helped us throughout this process. As a nonprofit organization, we would not be where we are in resolving this issue without you and your support, from volunteering your time to assist with moving fish and other marine life this autumn to donating funds that gave staff the capacity to dedicate the time needed to keep the inlet opening our number one organizational priority, to your trust in knowing that for 38 years, we have been and always will protect the San Elijo ecosystem.

Please visit our restoration webpage or YouTube page to learn more about the San Elijo Lagoon Restoration Project and Nature Collective’s role in monitoring the project’s success. You can also join our upcoming webinar on February 4, 2025.

Throughout 2024, we shared updates and concerns about the lagoon’s condition (blog posts: JanuaryMarchJulySeptember and October)

Your donation is invaluable in providing support to wildlife. 

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