San Diego, CA
Blocked channel leads to fish die-off in San Elijo Lagoon
The mouth of the San Elijo Lagoon, where a $120 million restoration was completed three years ago, is filling with sand faster than ever, a condition that endangers the wildlife there.
Last week’s warm temperatures turned areas of the closed lagoon hypoxic for the first time this year, said Jennifer Bright, chief operations officer and philanthropy director for the Nature Collective.
That means fish, mostly small anchovies, began dying because of the low oxygen levels in the stagnant water, Bright said Monday.
Fortunately, the weather turned cooler this week. The die-off slowed or stopped, and shore birds quickly cleaned up most of the evidence. Still, the winter rains that naturally restore the lagoon are months away.
The lagoon’s outlet usually is bulldozed open once each summer, Bright said. This year it’s been done twice, and it’s needed again. The first time waves took a few weeks to refill the opening with sand. The second time it took just days.
The restoration, a project 20 years in the making, widened and deepened the lagoon channel to expand and improve the wetlands habitat. A healthy and biodiverse wetlands supports hundreds of important species of plants, fish and birds that help to keep a balanced ecosystem.
“We saw a lot of success with that,” Bright said.
Eelgrass thrives in the shallow water, where the plant provides a nursery for fish. Endangered species of native birds, such as the California least tern, feast on the fish and build their nests on the shore.
“By widening the channel (in the restoration), we get three times as much tidal flow into the lagoon,” Bright said. “But what it’s also doing is bringing more sand in.”
The sand is carried farther into the lagoon than in the past, reaching the channel beneath the railroad bridge between Coast Highway 101 and Interstate 5.
Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune
The train trestle that crosses a portion of the San Elijo Lagoon in Encinitas on Monday.
The Nature Collective, formerly known as the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, has overseen the care and preservation of the lagoon for nearly 40 years.
Almost every year the nonprofit uses bulldozers, skip loaders and trucks to open the lagoon after the summer waves build up a berm on the beach, closing the connection to the ocean.
“We knew we would still have to continue opening the inlet,” Bright said. However, the maintenance has become more than expected.
Now, in addition to another beach opening, the lagoon’s caretakers need to dredge the sand that has accumulated at the railroad bridge, an area that is harder to reach. That will require more money and heavy equipment, and probably a boat-based dredge.
A rough estimate of the work needed is $1 million, Bright said. The Nature Collective has issued a request for proposals that will help determine the cost, but so far it does not have all the money. Mitigation funds could be available from Caltrans or the San Diego Association of Governments. The lagoon restoration was paid for by Transnet, the half-cent sales tax approved by voters and administered by SANDAG.
Every year, sand from the opening is used to widen nearby beaches. During the restoration, thousands of additional cubic yards of sand dredged from the lagoon were used to expand more than half a mile of the shoreline at Cardiff State Beach.
Called the Cardiff Living Shoreline project, the sand was placed atop a buried rock revetment and planted with native vegetation to help protect Coast Highway 101 from the steady erosion of high tides and winter storms.
Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune
An egret viewed from the Solana Beach side of the San Elijo Lagoon on Monday.
All of San Diego County’s coastal lagoons would naturally close up each summer without human intervention. Some, like Agua Hedionda and Batiquitos in Carlsbad, have been modified with rock jetties and periodic dredging to stay open year round.
Sand from those projects also is placed on nearby beaches to slow the effects of coastal erosion. A number of additional local and regional replenishment projects have been completed and more are planned to dredge offshore sand and place it on the shrinking shoreline.
All that sand placement also could be affecting the lagoons, filling them up faster, but the process is complicated and more studies are needed.
California’s wetlands were once considered wastelands, only fit to be drained, filled and developed. More than 90 percent of the state’s coastal wetlands have disappeared over the last century.
Only recently have people realized the value of their special coastal habitats and passed laws to protect them.
A person was fatally struck by a train in the Cardiff neighborhood of Encinitas early Wednesday afternoon, a sheriff’s official said.
The collision was reported just after 1 p.m. in the area of Chesterfield Drive at San Elijo Avenue, Lt. Joe Berry said.
The Sheriff’s Office’s Railroad Enforcement Unit is investigating the incident.
Chesterfield was briefly closed between San Elijo and Coast Highway 101 as first responders worked, but the road has since reopened.
In a post on social media platform X, the North County Transit District warned people to expect significant delays for Coaster service. Tracks were closed between Solana Beach and Encinitas stations, it said, and a Breeze bus bridge would be available for passengers between those stations.
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) — Attendance at Balboa Park’s museums are down 34% on average since paid parking went into effect inside San Diego’s urban park, according to data released Tuesday by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership.
In the analysis released Tuesday, the partnership found that between January and March of this year, attendance is down by that average of 34% compared to the previous year, with some institutions dropping by 60% over the same period.
“We’ve appreciated the city’s recent willingness to listen and take initial steps in response to community concerns,” Balboa Park Cultural Partnership Executive Director Peter Comiskey said. “However, the latest data make clear that those changes are not reversing the decline in visitation, and the impacts on our institutions are becoming more serious. We are urging additional action by our regional leaders before potentially irreversible damages take hold, and jobs and beloved programs or even organizations are lost.”
The report comes out as Mayor Todd Gloria’s draft budget for fiscal year 2027 proposes slashing arts funding by more than $11 million as a way to grapple with a structural deficit of more than $118 million.
Some of the park’s larger institutions predict more than $10 million lost in revenue from the lowered attendance alone, and jobs and program losses are a real threat, Comiskey said.
Visitors to Balboa Park were asked to pay to park their vehicles in city lots starting in January, breaking a tradition of more than 100 years of the city’s crown jewel being free for those in private vehicles.
San Diego residents are now able to purchase a monthly, quarterly or annual parking pass at a discounted rate by visiting sandiego.thepermitportal.com/. Residents can pay $30 for a monthly parking pass, $60 for a quarterly pass or $150 for an annual one. Non-residents can pay $40, $120 or $300 for the same levels.
The fiscal year 2026 budget passed last summer anticipated $15.5 million in parking revenue from Balboa Park. That number assumed $12.5 million in fee parking in Balboa Park and at least $3 million from zoo parking.
A revised figure presented to the City Council in November instead found the non-zoo parking might bring in just $2.9 million, or a decrease of $9.6 million from initial estimates.
The city originally planned to begin charging for parking in October, but delays prevented that and three months of revenue from happening. Expected parking rates have dropped as well.
The parking passes come under three pricing tiers, Levels 1, 2, and 3, based on demand and proximity:
— Level 1 lots, located in the core of the Central Mesa area, would be subject to the highest rate — $16 per day and $10 for up to four hours for nonresidents and $8 per day and $5 for up to four hours for city residents. These include Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion, Bea Evenson, Palisades and South Carousel;
— Level 2 lots would be priced at $10 per day for nonresidents and $5 per day for residents. These include Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point and Marston Point;
— Level 3 lots would also be priced at $10 per day with the first three hours free, with a resident rate of $5 per day with the first three hours free. This includes the lower Inspiration Point lot.
The Office of the Independent Budget Analyst estimated revenues in this fiscal year from the non-zoo parking would be close to $4 million, still well short of plans.
The zoo, which operates on an independent lease from the city, will allow members to continue to park for free. For non-members and non-residents, general parking is $16 per vehicle, per day, $44 daily for oversized vehicles per day. City of San Diego resident rates are half that.
Revenues from the parking fees paid within the park must be spent on Balboa Park. The funds can support ongoing maintenance, infrastructure, and visitor amenities and may include road repaving, lighting upgrades, sign improvements and landscaping.
Gloria backed off some of the parking fees in February, citing overwhelming negative feedback.
City residents who have verified their address will again be able to park for free in the Pepper Grove, Federal, Upper Inspiration Point, Lower Inspiration Point, Marston Point, Palisades and Bea Evenson lots.
“Good governing also means listening. I’ve heard from residents and from members of the City Council about how this program is affecting San Diegans who love Balboa Park as much as I do,” Gloria said.
“That feedback matters, and it’s why I am eliminating parking fees for city residents in select lots in the park. This change will reduce revenue, and I have received a commitment from the City Council president as well as other council members to identify other service-level reductions in order to keep the budget balanced.”
Verified San Diego residents will still be charged to park in premium lots such as the Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion and South Carousel lots. The cost is $5 for up to four hours or $8 for a full day. Enforcement will now end at 6 p.m., instead of 8 p.m.
More than 3,000 San Diegans have registered to be verified for the resident free parking program, and the city has collected nearly $700,000 for operations and maintenance in Balboa Park.
Despite these changes, Comiskey and the cultural partnership said more must be done before summer, busy season for the park and the museums and cultural institutions within.
“The data show we are at a critical moment,” Comiskey said. “As we approach the summer tourism season, we need a clear, region-wide recovery solution that restores accessibility, rebuilds public trust, and sends a strong `welcome back’ message to residents and visitors alike.”
Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
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