Using Soil Amendments in Salt Marsh Restoration Along the Southern California Coast

The warm climate and attractive coastline of southern California has resulted in an increasingly large human population. The natural landscapes of the area have been greatly modified to provide a setting for development. Coastal marshes have flat topography and occur near waterways. These attributes have made them prime sites for this development. Seventy five percent of the southern California coastal wetlands have been destroyed by development (Lonzarich et al. 1992). This area was not large to begin with and now only 31,600 acres of it remain. Changes in the watershed and levels of pollution have altered these remaining areas as well (Lonzarich et al. 1992). These losses have a catastrophic effect on the migratory waterfowl utilizing the area. These habitat losses are especially critical because stopping places for waterfowl are rare in the arid landscape of southern California. In addition, losses and alteration of wetlands have resulted in dissected marshes with barriers to animal movements. Barriers include increased noise levels, buildings, and changes in water circulation and quality. These barriers have hampered the ability of birds to reach alternate resting and feeding sites near tidal wetlands. In addition, barriers are preventing the dispersal of plants (Zedler 1982). Human caused disturbance has occurred for so long and to such a great extent that it is difficult t