Salt Ponds Become Wetlands: Restoration revives rich habitat; 80 bird species return

For decades, parts of South San Diego Bay looked very different from the tidal wetlands that once occupied them. Former salt ponds had been separated from the bay, limiting natural tidal flows and reducing habitat for wildlife. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, a partnership involving federal, state and local agencies and conservation groups began restoring the landscape in the late 2000s. By 2011, roughly 300 acres across the western salt ponds, the Chula Vista Wildlife Reserve and Emory Cove had been restored. The work included reshaping degraded areas, creating tidal channels, breaching levees to restore tidal influence and establishing native plant communities.Bringing the tides backSome of the western salt ponds had been cut off from tidal influence since around 1960 or earlier. During restoration, sediment was moved to create a network of channels and the existing levees were breached, allowing water from the bay and the Otay River channel to flow into the restored areas.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the project ultimately transformed the former salt ponds into a combination of open water, intertid...