Group seeks environmental alliance

| Thursday, May 1, 2003 10:00 PM PDT ∞

Jennifer Kabbany
Staff Writer

VISTA ---- They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so Diane Nygaard is using the image of a dead, 200-year-old Coastal Oak tree lying on its side to prove that development in San Marcos and Vista is hurting the Agua Hedionda Creek.

Nygaard, president of the 1,100-member Preserve Calavera, is organizing a "memorial service" for the oak at 9 a.m. next Thursday. She is inviting the public, including various North County leaders, to pay their last respects to the oak, and then talk about ways to save the oak grove that runs along the creek.

She blames the death of the oak on heavy development in San Marcos and Vista, in which houses, roads, industrial parks, parking lots and other examples of urbanization prevent the ground from naturally soaking up water after a heavy rain.

"Everything that happens inland drains to the coast," she said Thursday, "so the death of this tree is connected to what's happening along the entire watershed," which begins a quarter-mile south of Buena Creek Road in San Marcos and ends in Carlsbad.

When large amounts of stormwater run through the creek, it scours its banks and deposits a large amount of sediment that clogs the creek, she said. The oak derived its nutrition from the Agua Hedionda Creek, and thus was a victim of development, she said.

"This tree is really an important symbol and wake-up call about what's happening to our local watersheds," she said. "We want to ... mobilize (people) to get involved so that we don't lose the next tree and the next tree."

Nygaard said her goal is to see the formation of a partnership between local government agencies, citizen groups and nonprofits to work together and help the creek's environmental woes. She is modeling her idea on what Encinitas, Escondido, and Solana Beach have formed to help clean and preserve the Escondido Creek, which runs through all three cities.

Those three cities within the last year organized a group to address Escondido Creek's environmental issues, and the first meeting is later this month, said Doug Gibson, executive director of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy. In attendance will be a member from each City Council, San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater, San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, Escondido Creek Conservancy, and other local environmentalists.

"We're not a regulatory agency, we're not looking to change policy," Gibson said. "We're trying to look at unique ways to protect the watershed."

But Vista and San Marcos cannot be a part of that group because the Escondido Creek and the Agua Hedionda Creek are two different watersheds, he said. Nygaard agrees.

"We would like to see a cooperative working agreement similar to what was established for Escondido Creek," she said.

The idea may meet with resistance. Vista City Councilman Bob Campbell said that while he applauds Nygaard's efforts, one cannot necessarily lay blame on development. He said trees die for many reasons, including old age and disease.

When he grew up in San Marino in the 1950s, hundreds of pine trees were lost to disease, Campbell said. Similarly, he added, North County's eucalyptus trees are being plagued by a pest called red gum lerp psyllid.

"I think often development and developers are given somewhat of a bad name," he said. "The key issue to focus on is groundwater and water runoff regulations."

For more information about Nygaard's efforts, contact Preserve Calavera at (760) 724-3887.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (760) 631-6622 or jkabbany@nctimes.com.

5/2/03

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