Volunteers kayak through San Diego River Estuary to pick up trash and protect endangered wildlife

SAN DIEGO — Dozens of kayakers lined up beneath the West Mission Bay Drive Bridge on a clear, chilly Saturday morning, preparing to paddle through the San Diego River Estuary’s shallow reeds in search of trash threatening one of the region’s most important wildlife habitats.

More than 200 volunteers, clad in gloves and lifejackets, participated in the San Diego River Park Foundation’s annual kayak cleanup event. They worked in kayaks and along the shoreline to remove debris from the 330-acre estuary.

The event, which roughly spanned the section of the river along Old Sea World Drive between West Mission Bay Drive and Interstate 5, marked the only day each year when the public receives special permission to access the normally restricted waters.

“This event kicks off our year-long calendar of riverbed cleanups, and it’s one of the most fun and most important ones,” said Sarah Hutmacher, the foundation’s chief operating officer. “Every piece of trash we remove today prevents harm to wildlife, both here in the estuary and out in the ocean.”

Volunteers paddled by pairs in tandem kayaks to recover a wide array of items by hand, including plastic bags, plastic foam, water bottles, shoes, tennis balls and even a mattress that had been lodged in the reeds.

Assemblymember Chris Ward and his son participated in the kayak cleanup.

“My son and I were able to recover lots of Styrofoam, bottles, beer cans, even a gas can, tennis balls, which I presume people toss to the dogs and the dogs lose them in the river,” Ward said. “It just all flows down river, especially after the heavy rains.”

The San Diego River Estuary serves as critical habitat for endangered species, including the Ridgway’s rail and California least tern. More than 100 bird species use the area as a rest stop along the Pacific Flyway during their yearly migrations between Alaska and Mexico.

The cleanup was strategically timed to occur outside of nesting season and during high tide to maximize access while minimizing disturbance to wildlife. The foundation worked with the city and wildlife agencies to develop protocols for safely removing trash from the protected area.

Hutmacher said the foundation has been organizing the kayak cleanup since 2013, after years of seeing trash in the middle of the estuary that couldn’t be reached.

“It was always so frustrating when we could see trash out in the middle of the estuary, but we just couldn’t get to it,” she said. “But it’s protected for a reason.”

The foundation estimates about 1 million pounds of trash enter the riverbed each year. Last year, volunteers removed 221,330 pounds of trash from the riverbed between Santee and the ocean, including 3,700 pounds during the kayak cleanup alone.

Jim Pea, who has spent nearly 30 years monitoring birds along the San Diego River, served as a bird expert during the event, educating volunteers about the endangered light-footed clapper rail and ensuring they respected the wildlife.

“You would not believe how many people from around the world come to this chunk of the river,” Pea said, referring to bird-watchers. “When we get migrating birds, this is the first chunk of water and land that they see either coming north or south.”

Pea said approximately 400 bird species have been documented on the river over the years, and the area attracts bird-watchers from across the United States and beyond, particularly when rare sightings are reported on apps like eBird.

For longtime volunteers David Marx and Sei-Jin Ko, the cleanup offered a chance to help protect the environment and experience the estuary from a unique perspective.

“We love nature. We want to keep our natural environment as natural as possible as long as possible,” Ko said. “And with so much human impact on it, any bit of help helps.”

Ko noted that San Diego has lost more than 97% of its wetlands, making preservation of the remaining habitat critical not just for wildlife but also as a natural barrier against rising sea levels.

“The few that we have left, we really need to preserve it,” Ko said. “Otherwise, we’re in trouble.”

The volunteers praised the rare opportunity to access the restricted area by kayak while contributing to conservation efforts.

“It’s actually fun,” Ko said. “I mean, it’s so beautiful too, you get to go on the river. My goodness, you can never go on there otherwise.”

First-time volunteers Donna Posin and Ken Cote, who were recruited by a neighbor who works for the foundation, spent considerable effort extracting a waterlogged mattress from the reeds and transporting it approximately a quarter-mile back to shore.

“It’s sort of a civic duty,” Posin said. “I mean, you feel like you’re doing something for the community as well as how else are you going to get the stuff out of here, right?”

She noted that registration spots for the kayak portion of the event fill up within minutes of the announcement email going out, demonstrating the community’s enthusiasm for the program.

Ward emphasized the importance of volunteer efforts in preventing trash from reaching the ocean and harming marine life.

“It’s such a treasure and a resource for the San Diego region,” Ward said of the river. “Both the River Conservancy and the River Park Foundation are making a concerted effort to educate others about the presence of the river and the recreational benefits that it has for all San Diegans.”

The event received support from county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s office through a grant, and Aqua Adventures Mission Bay donated kayaks for volunteers. City of San Diego park rangers, lifeguards and firefighters also supported the cleanup.

The San Diego River Park Foundation conducts additional cleanups twice weekly, every Wednesday and Saturday year-round, working from Lakeside to the ocean.

“This estuary is such a well-traveled, popular place for recreation,” Hutmacher said. “And when you get 3,700 pounds of it out, you might think nothing of it, but you’re actually having a huge impact on protecting the wildlife.”