The San Elijo Lagoon is home to more than eight miles of hiking trails and one thousand plants and animals. Amber Kolpin looks forward to her weekly walks.
"I love seeing the wildlife, the Great Blue Heron, the fish jumping, the peace and quiet," said Kolpin.
But recently, the fish have not been jumping.
"I saw dead fish all over the place floating, and I thought it was just an algae bloom. I’m not sure what happened, but it was awful," said Kolpin.
Jennifer Bright is the Chief Philanthropy Director and the COO of the Nature Collective. The non-profit has been caring for the lagoon for nearly four decades.
"The lagoon has been closed since the beginning of July, and with that, you don’t have an influx of water, so the water that is in there isn't sustaining itself, and it’s not getting fresh water in from the Pacific Ocean nor does it have the ability to take any runoff that is coming from upstream out and that creates a scenario where we have reduced oxygen levels for the lagoon," said Bright.
The inlet to the lagoon is usually closed due to sand accumulation following winter storms, but this year was different.
"Every year, we go out and open the inlet. This year we had to open it twice, and we were finding the rate of sand accumulation was higher than it ever has been in the past, and we were unable to keep up with that," said Bright.
The recent heat wave also contributed to the lagoon system becoming hypoxic, which killed fish and other marine life.
"The recent high temperatures that we had last weekend, the water temperature rose with that temperature rising that has an even greater impact on the lagoon," said Bright.
According to Bright, more extensive aquatic-based dredging is needed farther up into the lagoon. The cost is estimated at one million dollars.
The non-profit hopes to secure the funding and open the inlet by next summer.
