City of San Diego Sander Vernal Pool Restoration
The Sander Vernal Pool Restoration Project, located in Kearney Mesa, San Diego helped the City of San Diego secure vernal pool mitigation credit for the Pure Water San Diego project. Dudek used innovative technologies, including ground penetrating radar and UAV lidar surveying to provide a detailed restoration design that increased regulatory agency certainty and contributed to the long-term success of the restoration project.
Project Facts
- City of San Diego
- Kearney Mesa area
- Satisfied mitigation requirements
- Utilized GPR and UAV lidar technology
- Initiated restoration of endangered and sensitive species
The Challenge
The City of San Diego was required to mitigate impacts to vernal pools associated with the construction of the Pure Water project. The City enlisted Dudek to design a vernal pool restoration project that created, restored, and enhanced vernal pools at the Sander site. Vernal pool creation and restoration is an exceptionally sensitive endeavor and the City needed a team that could provide full confidence to regulators that the design would be ecologically appropriate, follow and exceed industry best practices, and lead to long-term success.
The Solution
Dudek used innovative technologies during the design and implementation phases of the project to accurately identify the conditions critical to vernal pool restoration success. During the design phase, Dudek used ground-penetrating radar to map the below-ground hardpan, which contributes to the ponding of vernal pools at the Sander site. The depth to the subsurface hardpan was analyzed when creating the grading plans for the project to ensure the appropriate ponding capacity of created pools. Dudek later used pre- and post-project lidar-derived topography to calculate as-built ponding capacity to a high level of accuracy, a process that defined the potential ponding area at each vernal pool location and provided exceedingly accurate site-wide ponding totals for mitigation crediting.
The Impact
Highly detailed planning, implementation, and as-built reporting maximized the likelihood of restoration success. Initial signs of success have been tremendously encouraging as populations of endangered San Diego Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta sandiegonensis) and San Diego Mesa Mint (Pogogyne abramsii), as well as sensitive western spadefoot toads (Spea hammondii) have expanded on the site.
What We Did
- Habitat Restoration Design and Monitoring
- Mapping and Surveying
- Remote Sensing
Next Project
City of San Diego Stadium Wetlands Restoration
The Stadium Wetlands Restoration is a 57-acre advanced permittee-responsible compensatory mitigation project that generates wetland mitigation credits for use by the City of San Diego. Dudek oversaw project installation and also conducted restoration monitoring during the five-year maintenance and monitoring period on behalf of the City.
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