Climate Resilience & Coastal Adaptation
While the Climate Action Plan (CAP) is largely focused on mitigating and reducing the future impacts of climate change, some effects are already beginning to take shape. The CAP’s climate change vulnerability risk and adaptation assessment chapter outlines the current and future impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the CAP outlines strategies for the City to improve community resiliency and adaptation to the current and future impacts of climate change.
Resilience & Adaptation
Climate Resilience
The CAP calls for preparations to adapt to an increase in rising temperatures. In tandem with the CAP’s Carbon Sequestration strategy, tree planting is an effective way to prepare for a rise in future temperatures. The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon where higher temperatures are experienced by urban areas as a result of more heat-absorbing manmade surfaces such as roads and buildings. Trees help reduce the urban heat island effect by shading heat-absorbing surfaces. Since 2012, the City has planted 1,282 net new trees, advancing community heat resiliency in the process.
A future decrease in the amount of water supply and precipitation are another concern for the Encinitas community. The CAP’s Water Efficiency strategy seeks to reduce the amount of water consumed by Encinitans to prepare for future decreases in water availability. Studies have shown that increased water rates can lead to decreased water consumption. Additionally, the City’s Bee City USA affiliation and development of a native species policy will both help to promote the planting of native vegetation, which requires less water than traditional ornamental landscaping.
Another future climate impact that is a focus of the City climate action planning is wildfire. Several areas in Encinitas are particularly vulnerable to wildfire risk and climate change is expected to increase the frequency of wildfires. Thus, the CAP seeks to increase preparedness for future potential wildfires. The Encinitas Fire Department, in close partnership with the County of San Diego, conducts outreach and education for residents to be more prepared for procedures in the event of a wildfire. The City also operates a Fire Prevention Bureau which oversees business inspection and weed abatement programs and enforces hazardous materials storage/use and disposal laws. Fire Station No. 6 was added to the Olivenhain community approximately 10 years ago on a temporary, part-time basis. Olivenhain is the most rural, brush-covered portion of the City and is designated as a high fire hazard severity zone. The City now operates Station No. 6 on a full-time basis and is seeking a permanent location for this important fire station.
Last updated July 10, 2024
Resilience & Adaptation
Sand Compatibility and Opportunistic Use Program
With the Pacific Ocean as our backyard, it is paramount that the City continues to prioritize projects and policies that promote coastal resilience and adaptation. The City recognizes the importance of protecting our six miles of coastline. The City actively manages our coastline in a way that supports the community’s active coastal lifestyle and works to preserve and protect the native plants and animals that rely on our coastal resources. The City’s climate action plan assessed the City’s potential impacts related to future sea level rise and found that the City will need to handle an anticipated sea level rise of between two to four feet over the next century.
One of the most direct ways that the City can mitigate potential future sea level rise is by maintaining sand on our local beaches. The City utilizes the Sand Compatibility and Opportunistic Use Program (SCOUP), to streamline beach nourishment projects. This program facilitates the use of available sand from construction sites and other opportunistic sources, tested through stringent environmental regulations and granule consistency to ensure compatibility with receiver beach locations.
Last updated July 10, 2024
Resilience & Adaptation
Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project
The City is also part of a collaborative coastal storm damage reduction project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the City of Solana Beach (known as the San Diego County, CA Project). The project was approved in 2015 with the Project Partnership Agreement and lease approved and signed in 2023. The goal of this 50-year project is to reduce storm and sea level rise-related coastal damage and erosion by adding sand in five-year cycles to the Encinitas coastline between Swami’s and Beacon’s Beach. In 2024, 340,000 cubic yards of
compatible dredged sand material will be added to our beaches. Additional nourishments in Encinitas will add 220,000 cubic yards of sand every five years. In 2023, the project’s pre-construction, engineering, and design phases were completed. Monitoring began in the fall of 2022 to set baseline conditions of the shoreline, including supratidal, intertidal, and shallow habitat. Project funding is comprised of local, state, and federal sources.
Last updated July 10, 2024
Resilience & Adaptation
Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area and Marine Monitoring
Encinitas is home to the Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA), a state marine protected area (MPA) that spans from approximately Moonlight State Beach to South Cardiff State Beach shoreline mean high tide lines and three-nautical miles of ocean westward from the shoreline (approximately 12.71 square miles of conservation area). The Swami’s SMCA was named after the world-famous surf spot “Swami’s” and was established in 2012. The goal of this SMCA is to protect the sandy seafloor, rocky reef, kelp forest, coastal marsh and surfgrass habitat found here. These habitats are used by a variety of marine species which interact with the adjacent ocean and lagoon. The effects of establishing the preserve are currently being evaluated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through the 2022 Decadal Management Review. It is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource for commercial and/or recreational purposes within the SMCA. The only allowable forms of fishing in the SMCA are recreational fishing (hook and line) from shore and spearfishing for white seabass and pelagic finfish. Fishing from boats is prohibited. The prevalence of healthy reefs in the Swami’s SMCA are ideal for recreation but are unfortunately also a draw for poachers. To advance its priority of environmental stewardship, the City installed a marine monitoring (M2) radar in November 2020 on top of the Marine Safety Center at Moonlight State Beach in partnership with the designers of the radar program, Protected Seas, and WILDCOAST, an international environmental non-profit organization. M2 is a low-powered, high frequency marine radar coupled with specially designed software to track boat activity and illegal fishing in nearshore waters. The M2 monitoring is ongoing and has provided data that is critical to both management and enforcement of fishing restrictions in the Swami’s SMCA.
Last updated May 2, 2023
Resilience & Adaptation
Cardiff State Beach Living Shoreline Project
Another coastal project that aids in the City’s adaptation to sea level rise and mitigate coastal storm damage is the Cardiff State Beach Living Shoreline Project. Completed in 2019, this project created an engineered coastal dune along a low-lying area of the City called Cardiff-by-the-Sea. The dune was constructed using repurposed buried rock revetment and cobblestone and 30,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from the San Elijo Lagoon inlet and other acceptable sand sources. Native seeds and potted specimens of dune thriving plants were installed along the new shoreline on the easterly 30-foot width of the dune.
The Cardiff State Beach Living Shoreline Project is the first of its kind in Southern California to test coastal dunes as a nature-based solution to beach erosion and flood protection of a vulnerable coastal asset. This project also created healthy and safe habitats for a variety of species, including the endangered western snowy plover. Additionally, a five-foot wide, decomposed granite footpath was installed with the project, just east of the dune system, supporting pedestrian activity along South Coast Highway 101. In 2019, a monitoring program was developed to study the Cardiff State Beach Living Shoreline Project and to inform other coastal communities considering such adaptive measures. Monitoring data is also used to inform the project’s long-term maintenance and will continue through 2024. This program is a collaborative effort between the City, California State Parks, California State Coastal Conservancy, the Nature Collective, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Surfrider Foundation, University of California, Los Angeles, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In March 2021, the City accepted a national award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) for Best Restored Beach of 2020.
Last updated July 10, 2024
Resilience & Adaptation
Beacon’s Coastal Bluff Restoration Project
In 2020, the Beacon’s Coastal Bluff Restoration Project was designed. The project was, approved and permitted in early 2021.The primary objective of the project is to stabilize surface soils and reduce erosion by planting native vegetation via hydroseeding and potted plants. These measures are intended to protect the existing beach access trail, while also increasing coastal bluff habitat. The approximate 1.2-acre coastal bluff area largely contained non-native species or bare ground prior to the project. With the installation of adapted native species—such as Coast Sunflower, Yucca, and California Sagebrush—the coastal bluff provides enhanced habitat for coastal species, stabilizes the surface soil of the bluff, and beautifies the trail. The restoration program also includes a pilot project which uses washed up kelp to encourage natural dune formation. The first round of bluff restoration was officially completed in November 2021. The City’s Parks and Recreation Department conducted a second round of planting and restoration in the fall of 2022 and will do so again in fall of 2023.
Last updated May 2, 2023