Urban Corps and the San Diego Bird Alliance recently replaced the San Diego River mouth fence separating vulnerable birds and plants from Ocean Beach’s Dog Beach.
“The new fence improves the bird habitat value and several rare plants by delineating the paths that lead out to Dog Beach and encouraging people and dogs to stay out of the habitat,” noted Savannah Stallings, conservation advocacy coordinator for the San Diego Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon Society).
“It is one of the few tidal wetlands in the City. Our staff and volunteers have been working at the river mouth, surveying and sharing with the public for three years. We worked with the City on this project for over four years. And it’s finished. Urban Corps did a great job.”
Domesticated dogs and wild birds don’t mix. This is why the San Diego Bird Alliance and groups like Fiesta Island Dog Owners, a nonprofit striving to preserve the fenced leash-free area on the man-made island for families to exercise with their dogs. Birders and FIDO have collaborated to avert conflicts between canines and birds in the protected bird area at the San Diego River estuary adjoining Dog Beach.
Andrew Meyer, San Diego Bird Alliance’s director of conservation, noted the San Diego River mouth is part of an IBA (Important Bird Area) featuring coastal wetland, dune, sage scrub, and mudflat habitats. “Most people use it (IBA) just as a way to get out to the river and out to Dog Beach and the ocean,” said Meyer.
He noted the conversation about the need for a fence separating the two areas has been about “what the impacts of dogs are and why this place is important, and useful and valuable and pretty, and what people can do to limit the impact of humans and dogs as they move through this area on their way to the off-leash (FIDO) park.”
Meyer noted there hasn’t been the political will, until recently, “to do the outreach about why this place (IBA) is valuable and to get people to willingly keep their dogs leashed and minimize the impact of dogs and humans in the area.” He added, “We got a grant three or four years ago, and it took us awhile to get all the permits for the fencing that’s on these trails.
“In November and December of 2024, all of the fence was replaced. The posts and ropes are new. The other one (fence) was falling, and the rope was broken in a lot of places. The new piece was the sand fence, which specifically was done to protect wetlands and dunes which have important bird nesting and habitat, and also a couple of cute, rare plants.”
Meyer pointed out at least one endangered bird species, the California least tern, has nested in this coastal dune habitat here within the last five years. “But they don’t nest here anymore,” Meyer said, noting, “At least part of that is certainly because it’s disturbed a whole lot. There’s always people and dogs moving around, and it doesn’t look like a safe place anymore (for birds).”
Meyer pointed out that the IBA at the San Diego River mouth is “a really important biodiversity stopover along the Pacific flyway. Birders have seen over 270 different kinds of birds here in the last few years. So it’s critical to protect this. People are here photographing rare and endangered birds and migrants that come over. And this place is so sensitive – and attractive – because these coastal habitats are pretty rare nowadays.”
