Assessment of Coastal Water Resources and Watershed Conditions at Cabrillo National Monument, California
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Water Resources Division Technical Report NPS/NRWRD/NRTR-2006/355 Natural Resource Program Center NationacU.S. Departmenthe Interior Natural Resource Program Centerent of the Interior ASSESSMENT OF COASTAL WATER RESOURCES AND WATERSHED CONDITIONS AT CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT, CALIFORNIA Dr. Diana L. Engle and Dr. John Largier The National Park Service Water Resources Division is responsible for providing water resources management policy and guidelines, planning, technical assistance, training, and operational support to units of the National Park System. Program areas include water rights, water resources planning, marine resource management, regulatory guidance and review, hydrology, water quality, watershed management, watershed studies, and aquatic ecology. Technical Reports The National Park Service disseminates the results of biological, physical, and social research through the Natural Resources Technical Report Series. Natural resources inventories and monitoring activities, scientific literature reviews, bibliographies, and proceedings of technical workshops and conferences are also disseminated through this series. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the National Park Service. Copies of this report are available from the following: National Park Service (970) 225-3500 Water Resources Division 1201 Oak Ridge Drive, Suite 250 Fort Collins, CO 80525 National Park Service (303) 969-2130 Technical Information Center Denver Service Center P.O. Box 25287 Denver, CO 80225-0287 Cover photos: Top Left: NPS Photo Top Rightt: Bat Star, Bonnie Becker Bottom Leftt: Kristen Keteles Bottom Right: Kristen Keteles Bottom Middle: NPS photo Assessment of Coastal Water Resources and Watershed Conditions at Cabrillo National Monument, California Dr. Diana L. Engle1 and Dr. John Largier2 Technical Report NPS/NRWRD/NRTR-2006/355 1Marine Science Institute University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150 2Bodega Marine Laboratory Bodega Bay, CA 94923 August 2006 This report was prepared under Task Order J8C07050007 of the Californian Cooperative Ecosystems Study Support Unit (agreement H8C07030001). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cabrillo National Monument (CABR, or Monument) is located at the end of the Point Loma Peninsula just seaward of the entrance to San Diego Bay. It was established in 1913 as a one- acre monument to commemorate the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo on the west coast in 1542. The Monument consists of about 160 acres of land on the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula, and administers an additional 128 acres of submerged land extending 900 feet from shore on the ocean side of the peninsula under agreements with the U.S. Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers. Just outside of this marine boundary, occupying water between 6-30 m deep, is the Point Loma kelp bed, which continues northward for about 7 km along the coast. A subset of the waters within the administrative boundary of CABR, extending outward from shore 150 feet, constitutes the Mia Tegner State Marine Conservation Area. The Point Loma headland rises steeply to approximately 420 feet above sea level (maximum elevation in the Monument is 422 feet), and consists of brush covered, eroded slopes and coastal cliffs. With the exception of a few unmapped seeps, there are no freshwater features within the Monument. Most of the coastline is rocky intertidal habitat, with a few small sand 'pocket' beaches. Purposes of the Monument now include preservation of an historic 1854 lighthouse, structures and facilities from WWI and WWII, viewscapes, whale-watching, and habitat preservation. Average annual public visitation is about one million persons, about 10% of whom visit the tide pools each year. This report is a cooperative effort between the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara; the Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, Davis; and the National Park Service. It provides a summary of the current status of aquatic resources at CABR. The purpose of this report was to examine existing information pertaining to water quality, the condition of the marine habitat and its biota, sources of point and non-point pollution in the region, avenues of transport of pollutants to monument waters, and consumptive and non-consumptive uses of monument habitat. In addition, the report identifies current information gaps and makes recommendations for addressing them. Although the Point Loma peninsula was not intensively used by early indigenous groups, maritime resources along San Diego Bay and the open coast supported a population of prehistoric hunters and gatherers. A shell midden at Ballast Point, near the entrance to the bay, dates as early as 7830 years ago. Sharks were exploited by the early residents, as well as rocky reef and kelp bed fish. Marine mammals and sea birds were also hunted. Stands of oaks, toyon, manzanita and lemonadeberry existed on the peninsula until the mid-1800s, but were later reduced significantly by local leather tanning operations, firewood collection, construction, and terrain fires. Some families that tended the original lighthouse in the 1800s maintained sheep, cattle, horses, and small garden plots, but by the 1870s, the vegetation along the ridge crest was sparse, consisting of low, scrubby sagebrush. Cattle grazing on the open peninsula also altered ground cover and created animal trails. Currently, sensitive habitat within the federal reservation on Point Loma Peninsula receives protection via a voluntary, non-regulatory collaboration among the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Park Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the City of San Diego and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The collaboration i resulted in the designation of 668 acres (including 129 acres within the Monument) as the Point Loma Ecological Conservation Area, or PLECA. Land owners within PLECA restore native habitat by removing invasive species, avoiding construction, using erosion control, and planting native seedlings. CABR was one of the first units in the National Park System to be established in proximity to an urban area. Immediately adjacent to the Monument on the peninsula are the City of San Diego's Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, a U.S. Coast Guard facility with the modern-day Point Loma Lighthouse and Coast Guard housing, and the U.S. Naval Base Point Loma Complex. To the east of Point Loma lies the entrance to San Diego Bay and North Island, where the U.S. Naval Air Station is located. San Diego Bay extends approximately 14 miles along a curved axis from its entrance at Point Loma to its innermost reaches at the mouth of the Otay River in the south. A central navigation channel is maintained in the bay by dredging to accommodate relatively deep drafted vessels such as container ships, cruise liners, and Navy vessels including submarines and aircraft carriers. Several public marinas in the bay house yachts, sailboats, charter boats, and a commercial fishing fleet. A commercial port and a shipyard are located in the interior of the bay. San Diego Bay hosts four major U.S. Navy bases with approximately 80 surface ships and submarines. The cities of San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Coronado, and Imperial Beach surround San Diego Bay. Two rivers with large watersheds enter the Pacific Ocean in the general vicinity of Point Loma: the San Diego and Tijuana Rivers. Historically, the mouth of the San Diego River shifted back and forth from San Diego Bay to Mission Bay. In 1852, the U.S. Army constructed a dike along the south side of the river to prevent it from shifting back to San Diego Bay. Now, the San Diego River enters the Pacific Ocean through a man made channel between Mission Bay and the northern part of the Point Loma Peninsula. The Tijuana River enters the Pacific Ocean south of Imperial Beach, and drains a large watershed that is shared between the U.S. and Mexico. The intertidal habitat administered by CABR encompasses about 1.5 km of shoreline consisting mostly of flat, gently-sloping benches with scattered, hard, metavolcanic boulders at the base of soft, eroding sandstone cliffs. The Monument provides the only public access to the shoreline at the end of the peninsula, and the tide pools are well visited. For management and monitoring purposes, the intertidal area of CABR has been divided into three zones (Zones I-III) each approximately 330 m in length. Zone I is easily accessed using a public trail from a parking lot on the coastal bluff, and experiences the highest visitation. Visitors to Zone II must hike through the rocky intertidal zone to reach Zone II, thus it receives fewer visitors than Zone I. Zone III has always received the lowest number of visitors, but was closed to visitors in late 1996 after results of the first five years of intertidal monitoring revealed serious declines, near disappearance, or disappearance of key taxa throughout the rocky intertidal area. The goal of the closure of Zone III was to allow the area to recover from the impacts of visitors. The intertidal community at CABR has been well investigated, starting in the 1970s. Recently, diver surveys and gill net deployments (for fish) were carried out in the subtidal habitat within the administrative boundary of the Monument. Otherwise, the subtidal habitat between the low ii tide line at the Monument and the Point Loma kelp bed is undescribed. One hundred species of macroalgae, 247 species of marine invertebrates, and 48 species of fish (the latter includes subtidal species) are reported from CABR. The fish assemblage of CABR is a typical rocky- shore fish assemblage for the southern California mainland coast, and overall richness is comparable with other similar habitats in the San Diego region. Several fish and invertebrate species that utilize CABR habitat are targets of recreational or commercial fishing at Point Loma or in the San Diego area. An intertidal monitoring program began at CABR in 1990.