We need you to ask the California State Legislature to help protect critical habitat for endangered species and marine wildlife and to support healthy beaches in San Diego!
Please ask the California State Legislature to support the 3-year proposal for $1 million annual funding to maintain the Goat Canyon Sediment Basins as included in the Governor’s 2013- 2014 Budget.
Click here to send the automated email to CA Senator Jim Beall
What are the Goat Canyon Sediment Basins?
The Goat Canyon Sediment Basins are a series of retention ponds built in Border Field State Park in the United States to capture significant levels of eroding soil and trash that flow in from Mexico during rainstorms. They protect the water quality of the Tijuana Estuary and the beaches of southern San Diego County.
Why fund the maintenance of the Goat Canyon Sediment Basins?
• Mexico is working hard to resolve the sediment and trash problems on the international border, however this is a large complex issue. The Governor’s funding proposal is an important step in partnering with Mexico to keep our environment healthy.
• Sediment can have catastrophic impacts to the health of coastal wetlands such as the Tijuana Estuary. In 2005, nearly 20 acres of salt marsh were lost due to cross-border sediment.
• The Tijuana Estuary is the most significant coastal wetland in Southern California. It is one of only 23 in the US recognized as A Wetland of International Significance by the Ramsar commission. It provides critical habitat for 12 endangered species including the Western snowy plover and the California least tern.
• However the health of this wetland is critically threatened each year by trash and sediment flowing in from Mexico with winter storms. The Sediment Basins successfully capture this pollution and help protect the estuarine environment.
• The Sediment Basins helps protect against trash and sediment that can adversely impact the health of ocean users and beach goers.
• Failure of the State of California to provide this needed funding will significantly damage this critical coastal wetland, the Pacific Ocean shoreline ecosystem and the recently established Tijuana River Mouth California State Marine Conservation Area.
• Long-term resolution of this issue will be achieved through shared responsibility across Federal, State, and Local levels of government, and especially in partnership with Mexico. An international treaty on this issue is in the early stages of development.
Dear Senator _______, I urge you to support the proposal for $1 million in annual
funding for maintenance of the Goat Canyon Sediment Basins as included in the
Governor’s 2013-2014 budget. This funding will address the trash and sediment issue
on the international border at the most critical input: the end-point of the Tijuana River
Watershed. This location supports extraordinary recreational opportunities outstanding
examples of our State’s most valued natural resources such as the Tijuana Estuary and the
California State Marine Conservation Area of the Tijuana River Mouth.
CA Senator Jim Beall (Chair Budget Sub-committee #2)
State Capital, Room 2068
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4015
CA Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (Budget Subcommittee)
State Capital, Room 5080
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4019
CA Senator Jim Nielson (Budget Subcommittee)
State Capital, Room 4062
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4004
Catherine Freeman (Subcommittee consultant)
Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
CA State Capital Room 5019
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-651-4103
[gallery]