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Buena Vista Audubon Society’s Nature Center is a part – an outstanding part! – of the decades-long effort to protect Buena Vista Lagoon as a wetland wildlife sanctuary. The effort to conserve the lagoon dates back at least to the 1930s, when the Buena Vista Lagoon Association – now the Buena Vista Lagoon Foundation – first persuaded the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to zone 100 acres of the lagoon as a wildlife refuge. Since those early years the lagoon has at times drained and dried up, flooded and silted up. A weir was built across the mouth of the lagoon raising the lagoon level above high tide and transforming the lagoon into a calm, shallow freshwater lake, increasingly choked with silt and tules. About one-fourth of the lagoon was lost in the late 1960s to Plaza Camino Real Shopping Center. Yet much more might have been lost: marinas, amusement parks, trailer parks and housing developments have all been proposed for the lagoon – and prevented. Buena Vista Lagoon, a State Ecological Reserve managed by California Department of Fish and Game since 1968, continues to welcome numerous migratory waterfowl and shorebirds each year. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded on and around the lagoon.

Many of the same individuals who were active in the conservation efforts of the Buena Vista Lagoon Association helped found Buena Vista Audubon Society (BVAS) in 1951. Ironically, it was development alongside the lagoon that helped pave the way for the building of the Nature Center. When the Sandpiper Cove condos were proposed in the 1980s, the builder offered as mitigation land next to the lagoon. That offer set the stage for the realization of a BVAS dream long deferred.

Cora Wilson, a retired Los Angeles schoolteacher, moved to Carlsbad in 1954, and immediately became active in BVAS. It was her dream, one she pressed for years and years, that BVAS would build an interpretive center where children could be educated about nature. Cora’s cause was joined by David Rorick, founding member of BVAS, businessman and lifelong Oceanside resident. His wide circle of connections enabled him to be extremely effective in promoting and realizing Cora’s dream of a nature center.

Dave enlisted the help of Oceanside city officials, State Assemblyman Robert Frazee, and State Senator Bill Craven. The lot on which the Nature Center stands was deeded to the City, which leases it to BVAS for $1.00 a year. The City of Oceanside, with the active assistance of our representatives in Sacramento, obtained $265,000 from the California Vanity License Plate Fund, established to promote environmental protection. BVAS undertook the design and engineering work necessary to create a buildable site. Largely as a result of Dave Rorick’s efforts, $75,000 was raised from members, friends and supporters of BVAS. Bank of America provided a bridging loan of $50,000 to keep the construction going until all the state money came in to finish the job, which cost a total of $325,000.

The Nature Center held a Grand Opening to welcome the public on September 24, 1988. 150 visitors enjoyed the displays, admired the native plant landscaping along the shoreline trail installed by longtime BVAS activist Paul Grigsby, but the Grand Opening was less than a “roaring success”: a mountain lion accompanying the founder of Wildlife Rescue regarded “all the goings-on with a steady stare and occasional low growl”, then stretched out on the floor of the brand new nature center “to catch a few zzzs”.

Over the years, the Nature Center underwent several small remodeling projects, including roofing, painting, and carpeting upgrades funded by Prop 12, and administered by the city. In 2014, thanks to a state grant under the Nature Education Facility Program of the 2006 Clean Water Bond Act, a major remodel transformed the Nature Center with a new upstairs viewing deck. In addition, in 2015, a grant from the City of Carlsbad allowed BVAS to repaint the nature center and upgrade the outdoor information kiosk.

With over 2,000 members and our dedicated volunteers, we are now poised to enhance Cora Wilson’s dream: a center superbly equipped to interpret nature in a local, natural setting to thousands of schoolchildren. Currently, over 3,000 children a year are introduced to nature by BVAS nature guides. How much more they will be able to learn now!

- Dennis Huckabay