Troubled Lagoon

I believe the opposition to dredging Batiquitos Lagoon by the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, et al. to be an instance in which environmental concern is shown much too late.

Over the years, I have watched the lagoon’s bird life diminish as the water slowly disappeared. Gone are the migrating species, gone are the ducks, gone are the egrets, gone are the gulls, gone are the coots. There was a time when you could hardly see the water for the birds in the early morning.

Now what one sees as the sun rises is coyotes searching for their breakfast far out on the lagoon. If the environmentalists really want to save the lagoon, this is the time for them to cooperate with the city of Carlsbad in finding a way to restore at least some of the water and some of the tidal flushing to Batiquitos. A slow, little-by-little approach as recommended by the Sierra Club would have worked five years ago. More active measures are needed now.

ALICIA COOPER, La Costa