Sweetwater Marsh Community Wetlands Restoration Project

The Living Coast Discovery Center (LCDC) engaged community volunteers to enhance three acres of wetland habitat the Sweetwater Marsh unit of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Partnering with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the LCDC Sustainability Team restored native habitat to a critical location along the Sweetwater River, in the area known as “D Street Fill”. The project included area assessment, weeding of nonnative ice plant species, and re-planting of native coastal wetland species. USFWS and LCDC determined the exact location for on-the-ground community restoration efforts after factoring in the location of nesting grounds of the California least tern and local tidal fluctuations from the Sweetwater River and San Diego Bay.