For years I worked near Mission Bay and walked
through it on the way to work. As a
child, I had a very vague memory of miles of sloughs where the bay is now. It was a totally wild land right in the heart
of the city.
The San Diego river, which created these
tidelands, was tamed into a straight channel in 1800. And so it stayed until 1944 when the city
began turning this marsh into a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Bay_(San_Diego) unique water park. They dredged, dug, built, and created the
Largest man made park in the country, and the largest municipal park. It did help diversify the city’s economic
base from all military to a partial military/tourist.
I was taught in my small grade school, that birds
migrated up and down the state utilizing the sloughs and marshes along the
coast and in the great central valley.
Now this last great coastal marsh was gone.
Slowly a last corner area of the tidelands showed
signs of restoration. In 1972 a small marsh area appeared, and slowly grew over the years. Once I awoke to what we lost through our
diversification efforts, I began watching this bit of marsh. Mentally I encouraged each blade of grass,
each clump of marsh.
I
don’t work in Mission Bay any more. But
I still drive through it and use it twice a week. Do you have an area near where you live that’s
been changed so that it is unrecognizable?
Let us know.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
- Himself: Work, shower, meeting, and build space stations in a galaxy far, far, away.
- Myself: Yesterday struggled to get the right inhaler send to me. Today. Read, write, shower, read some more. Slept terribly again. Yes, the links both work!!!
- Photo: Mine
- Reading: Pryor.
- Gratitude’s: G
That was quite the project, wise or not.
ReplyDeleteSleep is elusive for me many nights. I noticed that my memory is much better if I get proper sleep. That’s become a goal, more sleep. Wish me luck.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great location for Friday.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in a rural area for forty years. However, "rural" is gone. The barns are gone, the pastures and fields are gone. In their place, housing. Literally thousands of homes and apartments. Zoning has changed to keep pace and stop flooding.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, definitely. The sugar cane plantation camp where I grew up is completely gone. Totally. They totally graded the land so everything is unrecognizable. It's quite sad. We can never go back.
ReplyDeleteI am re-watching Big Little Lies ( since I don't get HBO and it is free with my cable now) and it is so well acted and so creepy....BUT it takes Monterrey Bay and makes it one of the main characters. California is the real estate that is the shining beauty on a hill for most of us who live elsewhere. When I travel through California, it is hard to get my heart and mind around it. I did not know that your area was once more natural marsh, and I hope they encourage at least part of it to return. Colorado is like that with the ain river...just straighten and drain it!! Ugly.
ReplyDeleteSomehow man thinks he can best nature. I saw it in Florida and oddly a lot of the things done with the rivers are now being allowed to go back to natural.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated listening to Calif. natives describe he Los Angeles area they remember growing up before freeways. Descriptions of Route 66 with citrus orchards on both sides of the highway for miles coming through where I live — now consisting of homes and businesses. When we moved here over four decades ago I used to drive to a number of nearby farms with fresh vegetable stands, numerous strawberry patches — all have dwindled in number. One rugged area in our city has become the site of multiple million dollar plus homes. Rock quarries today are becoming housing developments. Our city, having acquired the ownership of our segment of Route 66/Foothill Blvd. is in the midst of completely upgrading that hwy. The last fwy, 210, to be built in Calif. was constructed after we moved here, which I resisted to no avail and is thick with traffic now headed to the 15 for Vegas. So far further housing up the mountainsides has been prevented and hope it remains that way. You know how that goes “I’m here now, so don’t anyone else come so it won’t get too crowded.”
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Ariz. we purchased a membership to the newly opened Wild Animal Park so also went to the San Diego Zoo many weekends to enjoy the S.D. area. We’ve certainly seen many changes there since then.