The Wetlands Reserve Restoration Project
Background on the Wetlands Reserve Restoration Project
Photo by Sydney Walsh, National Audubon Society
In 2022, BVAS was awarded a grant from the Dorrance Family Foundation to begin habitat restoration of the Wetlands Reserve. In this successful year, we completed the studies required for CEQA and permitting, engaged members of the Payόmkawichum Nation and local community on the project design and ways to connect with the Wetlands Reserve, and completed a draft landscape design (aka “30% Conceptual Design”).
The generosity of the Dorrance Family Foundation continued into 2023 with a second grant towards 65% design, permitting, and CEQA. This grant also provided a match towards the total funding needed to complete this phase of the project; as word got out about our project, local conservation organization Preserve Calavera stepped up and generously presented BVAS a grant to move this phase closer to completion. These funds come from the Oceanside Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Fund (OGHGERF) at the San Diego Foundation on behalf of Preserve Calavera. The goal of the OGHGERF is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via local projects in Oceanside, and creating new wetlands─a key goal of our Project─remains one of the best ways to accomplish this goal. The Dorrance Family Foundation has continued funding our project since then, including a two-year grant through 2026. In 2025, the State Coastal Conservancy awarded BVAS a grant that helped close the funding gap needed to move the project into the final phases of design and permitting.
BVAS began the permitting process in 2024, focusing first on the City of Oceanside (the majority of the Project lies in the City of Oceanside; a smaller portion is within the City of Carlsbad). Note the yellow Notice of Application sign on the Wetlands Reserve, slightly up the hill along Coast Hwy towards Eaton Street. This sign is a key part of the permitting, informing the community of our intentions. In early 2025, BVAS acquired a certified CEQA document and Regular Coastal Permit from the City of Oceanside. In the fall of 2025, BVAS made changes to the restoration design after input from resource agencies suggested scaling back the amount of grading and expanding areas for future wetlands migration. An open house in December, 2025, shared the updates on the Project with the community. Here is a link to the PowerPoint presentation.
BVAS began permitting with both the City of Carlsbad and resource agencies in early 2026. As of September 2026, we are moving through these permitting processes at a steady speed. Note the yellow Notice of Application sign for the City of Carlsbad permitting, located at the southern boundary of the Wetlands Reserve (across the street from our nature center).
Partnership with Indigenous Nations: Since 2022, BVAS has partnered with 'ataaxum Pomkwaan (an Indigenous-led non-profit located on the Rincon Indian Reservation) and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians on “Returning to Our Homelands,” a project that works to re-connect Indigenous young people and their families to their original Payόmkawichum homelands/territories. This project strives to increase Indigenous access to ancestral lands, encourages youth and families to be part of the Wetlands Reserve Restoration project process, and engages Indigenous young people with the land to foster healing from trauma associated with forced displacement from their homelands. The State Coastal Conservancy is collaborating on the Returning to Our Homelands project by providing a grant through their Whale Tail grant program.
Project activities are currently centered at the BVAS Wetlands Reserve and Nature Center Preserve, as well as areas around the Buena Vista Lagoon. A cultural exchange program in partnership with Oceanside High School in 2023 and 2024 brought together traditional Indigenous knowledge and western European knowledge concerning coastal wetlands ecology and habitat restoration. Other events include walking the land to connect with the cultural history and local fauna and flora and engaging in planting native plants and weed removal; these all connect participants to coastal habitat restoration and the land.
Media:
press release for the 2022 Dorrance Family foundation funding.
Channel 8 and San Diego Union Tribune. (media for late 2022)
press release for the 2023 Dorrance Family Foundation funding.
Photo by Sydney Walsh, NAS
BVAS is grateful to the Dorrance Family Foundation, Preserve Calavera, and the State Coastal Conservancy for funding this project and supporting habitat restoration in our coastal areas!
For more information on the Wetlands Reserve Project, please contact: buenavistanature@gmail.com
Why is the Reserve important?
The Buena Vista Audubon Society (BVAS) Wetlands Reserve was BVAS's first property acquisition, purchased in early 2016. This 3.5-acre parcel is located directly across the street from the BVAS Nature Center. A key piece of rare undeveloped coastal habitat in the area, the Wetlands Reserve is also adjacent to the Buena Vista Lagoon Ecological Reserve. Home to the endangered Light-footed Ridgway's Rail (Rallus obsoletus levipes)and other rare species of birds, this piece of land also provides a buffer between urban development and the Ecological Reserve.
History of the Reserve
The property was slated to become an 82-room hotel in 2008. However, due to wetland delineation issues identified by the Coastal Commission, the hotel project was scrapped. Shortly after, BVAS looked into purchasing the property; but the price of $7 million was prohibitive. In 2013, a new owner dropped the price to $1.5 million and expressed interest in selling the land to BVAS for conservation purposes. BVAS then began reaching out to our members, the community, and state agencies for support. As donations began flowing in, BVAS created a new land acquisition and conservation fund to hold these donations; thus, the BVAS Ridgway's Rail Society Fund (RRSF) was born.
By January, 2016, BVAS had raised a total of $1,560,000 towards the purchase—of this, $70,000 came from over 200 individual donors. Three local non-profits provided grants of $50,000 each: Preserve Calavera, North County Advocates, and the Wimberly Fund at Audubon California. In addition, the Buena Vista Lagoon Foundation donated $10,000. This community commitment and support paved the way for BVAS to receive a grant of $1.35 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board of the Department of Fish & Wildlife in December, 2015, which completed the funding needed to acquire the land. With this acquisition, BVAS became a landowner for the first time in its more than 65 years of existence.
Thank you to funders and supporters!!!
BVAS is grateful to those who helped make it possible to permanently protect this parcel. It is testament to the community that we were able to raise the funds to purchase the property, and to acquire funding to restore it to native habitat.
Our Mission
To protect and preserve our region's birds, biodiversity, and threatened habitats, and to promote conservation of our natural resources through advocacy, education, and both habitat restoration and management.
Mailing Address
Buena Vista Audubon
PO Box 480
Oceanside, CA 92049
Nature Center
2202 S. Coast Highway
Oceanside, CA 92054
760-439-BIRD
(760-439-2473)
Hours
Sunday10 am-1 pm*
Monday 10 am-1 pm*
Tuesday 10 am-1 pm*
Wednesday 10 am-1 pm*
Thursday 10 am-1 pm*
Friday 10 am-1 pm*
Saturday 10 am-1 pm*
*Hours may vary, as the NC is hosted by volunteers (please call the NC prior to visiting to ensure a host is present).