The bike trail is one of the recreation features of the San Luis Rey flood control project

So far, so good.

Then events rapidly evolved to prove yet again that no good deed goes unpunished.   Although the 7.6-mile-long San Luis Rey flood control levee was completed in 1999, and San Diegans’ lives and property have been protected ever since, over the next few years the law of unintended consequences unfolded with a vengeance.

The twists and turns of the past 10 months, which at one point saw a U.S. congressman threaten to man a bulldozer himself, provide a cautionary tale for how the Los Angeles District adapted and adjusted to unforeseen circumstances.  The District’s strategic reaction and tactical actions may well serve as a learning tool for other districts faced with unexpected challenges that any project could encounter.

San Luis Rey now appears to be a win (for the environment)-win (for a major flood-control project).  But the win-win came only after a lot of time and frustration.

In his 1927 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Bridge at San Luis Rey (about an 18th century Peruvian tragedy), author Thornton Wilder has his main character, Brother Juniper, declare:  “Either we live by an accident or we live by a plan.”

Oceanside officials are concerned about debris collecting along the piers of the four bridges crossing the San Luis Rey

A decade or so ago, after the flood control part of the project was mostly finished, Mother Nature acted as only she can.  Despite an arid climate, San Diego County contains one-third of the remaining coastal wetland acreage in Southern California, as well as the largest area of vernal pools in the region.  Enough rain fell in the San Luis Rey channel to create ideal growing conditions for a jungle of plant life.  No one is quite sure when a tipping point was reached, but by last year the vaunted flood control channel had become choked with vegetation, including the invasive fast-growing pest, arundo donax, sort of a bamboo on steroids.

Along with the plants came the birds, including the least Bell’s vireo and the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, both endangered species.   The Corps, like individual Americans and other government agencies, must abide by the rules of the Endangered Species Act.  One of those, in effect, is don’t mess with the habitat of endangered species.  Yet it was quickly becoming obvious to District team members and San Diego stakeholders alike that San Luis Rey’s flood channel could no longer serve its original purpose because its channel was clogged by 30 acres of the giant reeds—and at least two species of endangered birds.

In letters during 2002 to residents worried about floodplain boundaries, Deputy District Engineer for Project Management Brian Moore explained that, because of critical habitat issues, the Corps had to study alternative operations and maintenance practices for the channel; the study included a supplemental Environmental Impact Report.  The Endangered Species Act also required the Corps to formally consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS).

A resident enjoying a walking trail along the San Luis Rey

The hitch was permits.  Permits from both Fish and Wildlife and other regulatory agencies.  Last year, under mounting public pressure, Oceanside’s City Council threatened to clear the channel without the required permits, prompting a letter from District Engineer COL Alex Dornstauder that the city could face “very serious legal repercussions” if it acted on its own.

Signaling that the Corps grasped the gravity of the problem, Ruth Villalobos, the District’s Planning Division chief, told the Oceanside City Council that “this is the preeminent disaster waiting to happen in the entire district.”  Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from nearby Vista, told reporters he himself would operate a bulldozer to jump-start the cleanup, but then acted to help obtain a $1 million emergency appropriation for the project.

In December the District contracted RECON, an environmental consulting firm, to begin removing the invasive plant.  COL Dornstauder watched the initial clearing efforts with City Councilman Rocky Chavez.  “Frankly, I don’t know what went on 10 years ago, but, to me, the fact that we’re here today cutting wood is a big step in the right direction,” he told the North County Times.  Overall, 22 acres were cleared in December.

Mayor Jim Wood, City of Oceanside, discusses the challenges of clearing the San Luis Rey river with Major General Don Riley, Director of Civil Works, USACE

During the weeks that followed the December launch, District team members were in regular contact with Oceanside city officials, as well as federal and state authorities, addressing legal and technical issues in hopes of reducing flood risk.  The District ranked its twin missions at San Luis Rey—to protect the public from flood danger and to protect endangered and threatened species in the basin near Oceanside—as a “high-priority” project. 

Three key strategies lay behind the District’s decisions:  preemptive emergency action, which protected lives and property from possible flooding during the rainy season; systematic clearing, which minimized any impact on the environment and increased the San Luis Rey Channel’s capacity for flood protection; and close consultation with USF&WS and state resource agencies to ensure the preservation of wetlands as well as the protection of endangered species in the project area.

Chipper begin phase clearing of the over grown vegetation of the San Luis Rey channel

Preemptive clearing began March 3, as workers from a Corps contractor mowed and chipped about 100 feet of vegetation along a five-mile stretch of the channel.  RECON International was awarded the $250,000 contract for the work, which lasted about two weeks and was completed before the least Bell’s vireo nesting season began.

This summer District team members worked overtime to design the long-term maintenance plan for the San Luis Rey levee system.  That plan was scheduled to be available for public review in September.  “We unintentionally created a wetlands habitat for the vireo,” District Acting Public Affairs Chief Jay Field said.  “In 1988, before the project began, there were only eight pairs of vireos in the riverbed.  Now there are more than 100.”

It wasn’t easy, and it isn’t over yet.  But the San Luis Rey River project shows how, with careful attention to detail, patience and collaboration with local sponsors and stakeholders, the District converted an accident into a plan.