Dieguito Lagoon

But Larson questions the wisdom of constant dredging projects along Del Mar's scenic shores, and the annoyance and safety factors involved with regularly moving heavy equipment up and down the beach. "It' will be a huge effort to keep the lagoon constantly open," he says, "Have you ever been to Torrey Pines and Cardiff? They're constantly having to run heavy equipment up and down the beach to move sand around for these projects."

Larson and other members of Save the Beach claim that they don't necessarily oppose a project to restore the San Dieguito lagoon, but they want alternatives to a constantly open waterway to be considered. "It's an admirable goal," he says, "but it's coming at the expense of our number one commodity -- the beach. All you have to do is go down the Cardiff, and lay down on cobbles to see what effect this might have."

Gonzalez and Edison argue that there are safeguards and dredging and sand replenishment built into the plan, and that there is no way a Surfrider-supported plan would be anti-beach. Gonzalez also points out that Surfrider's mission is twofold -- beaches and habitats. "Save the Beach -- they're trying to tie this in to the the big utility because they get more leverage getting people pissed off at Edison. But this is not a question of California Edison. This is about the San Dieguito River Park. This factors into the rehabilitation of a lagoon that's been impacted by everything from the Del Mar Racetrack being sighted right in the middle of it to landowners building houses and revetments in a place where the rivermouth used to empty out. At one point, the river used to flow through what are now homes. What we're trying to do is restore some semblance of ecological continuity. We've lost 95 percent of our salt marsh habitat in Southern California and this would go a long way toward establishing that estuarine environment where you have salt and freshwater mixing. That's really important ecologically."

Larson counters that it is perfectly normal for a Southern California waterway to become silted in during the summer, and to remain closed for long periods of time. That, he says, is the natural condition. Who is right? It's up to the judge.