It all started when I arrived at Estero de Punta Banda (the saltmarsh just south of ensenads in Baja California) in March to do a bird census, and found a housing development underway on the barrier beach. For the 12 ensuing years there was a bi-national non-governmental organization pro esteros with two chapters – Mexican and U.S. It ended in the spring of 2001 when the Mexican chapter was ready to be totally independent and the U.S. chapter was dissolved. The U.S. chapter was essential at the start, to handle the money and provide advice and technical assistance, but the plan was always for us to disband when we were no longer needed. The Mexican chapter has thrived and continued, grown and celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Google pro esteros or Laura Martinez (Chair) for an update on their activities. Here is the lead article from the first newsletter of the U.S. chapter in February 1979; it encapsulates the events that let to the formation of the organization.
Pro esteros newsletter February 1989: The first six months
Logo
The short history of pro esteros has been so eventful it is hard to believe it is barely 6 months old. We have over 200 members, and the treasury has climbed to over $6000.00, enough to begin making some important expenditures. This first newsletter will be followed by others at regular intervals, depending on how fast news and articles accumulate. The incorporation papers were filed in mid-January, and by the time of the next newsletter we hope to have non-profit mailing status. The first group of officers and directors has begun functioning. We have a nifty logo, created by Keith Axelson, to which the Mexican chapter added ‘for now is the time’. The Mexican chapter is moving with less speed, has about 40 members and only a few really working. But it has Silvia Ibarra, an incredible dynamo worth 10 ordinary mortals! The organization certainly seems to be on its way. But this is just the frame on which this group is built. Let’s get on to what has been happening in Mexico. Let me backtrack to October and give you a follow up on events there since the last mailing. And for those of you reading about pro esteros for the first time, a quick recap on why it was created. Last March, during an annual Clapper Rail census of the northern Baja marshes, we found that the barrier beach of Estero de Punta Banda in Ensenada was in process of being severely damaged by hotel and housing development called the Baja Beach and Tennis Club. The development was a cooperative one between the ejido that owned the land (more about that later) and the Koster Group, a Mexican construction company that has built other resorts along the north coast. The dunes both north and south of the hotel had been de-vegetated and leveled, and the devastation extended several km in each direction. There was also a boat dock built out into the estuary in preparation for a planned marina. The company had applied for a permit from SEDUE (the federal agency in charge of coastal and marine resources) to dredge a deep channel about 4 km down the estuary to the hotel. Silvia Ibarra is a biologist at CICESE (the federally funded biological research station in Ensenada), a plant ecologist whose specialty is eel grass, and who has done research at Punta Banda estuary and in San Quintin Bay. We decided to do something, and pro esteros was born in May at a meeting of 35 Mexican and US scientists and conservationists in San Diego. During the summer, communication was established between the Koster Group and CICESE, many of whose scientists had joined pro esteros. And for a brief time it appeared that cooperation might ensue. But the dialogue broke down, and a split developed between pro esteros members who opposed dredging and those who were willing to accept it in exchange for a 4 km ecological reserve at the tip of the barrier beach. In September SEDUE (the federal environmental department) asked CICESE’S director, Dr. Saul Alvarez, for an opinion on the proposal to dredge a marina. Dr. Alvarez is a member of pro esteros, but his answer was as director of CICESE. He recommended dredging a channel 3 m deep the entire 7 km length of the main channel for the health of the estuary. His rationale was that siltation was slowly destroying it and dredging would be restorative. Silvia, after consultation with US scientists in San Diego about the problems caused by dredging, wrote her own letter to SEDUE as Co-Chair of pro esteros opposing dredging. There followed a meeting of the Mexican chapter at which Silvia and Saul Alvarez both stated their points of view and the ensuing discussion made it clear to all that they really needed to know more about estuarine hydrology, biology, ecology before making such decisions. Silvia was asked to set up a seminar series at CICESE, and called me to see of we could finance it. The answer was yes, and the result was a 3 month series, given by both Mexican and US scientists, that continues through February. See below for titles of the talks. The first speaker was Dr. Philip Williams, an hydrologist from San Francisco who explained the hydrodynamics of estuarine systems, and how dredging destroys the natural equilibrium established through a daily tidal regime, requiring that jetties be constructed at the mouth. Wave action along the jetties then causes scouring and eventual destruction of the barrier beach down-current from the mouth. Jetties also result in sand bars at the mouth that must then be dredged on a regular basis to maintain the patency of the channel. Thus the initial act of dredging starts a chain reaction and requires continual intervention to maintain the patency of the mouth. I was in Ensenada at the time and learned a whole lot from Phil’s talk, as did the rest of the audience. The following week I gave a talk on Least Terns and the importance of estuarine systems to their breeding ecology. Then followed a series of seminars by researchers from CICESE and the University of Mexico, Baja Norte. The last two speakers will be US biologists Phyllis Faber and Richard Zembal on plant ecology and endangered saltmarsh species respectively. From the comments I heard in mid-January when I was again in Ensenada studying Spanish, the seminar series was a much appreciated learning experience for pro esteros members. Our efforts are now turning towards politics. Silvia is becoming known as a conservationist, and in March we are going to Mexico City to present our views to SEDUE and other agencies. Our major long-range goal is the establishment of a reserve system to include all of Baja California’s esteros. This article is already longer than I had intended, so I will just briefly mention other developments. A suit against the developers was brought by a group of landowners who claim that the hotel is being built on their land. The court has ruled in their favor and granted an injunction – but the development goes on — Similar land disputes have occurred elsewhere along the coast, also involving the Koster Group. There will be a story in the San Diego Union shortly on the mushrooming of coastal development in northern Baja, including Estero de Punta Banda. Rumors continue to rumble about proposed developments in Bahia de San Quintin. We hope to get some facts in Mexico City. Until next time — Barbara Massey, Co-Chair Here are photos of the two large northern BC estuaries where our initial efforts were concentrated. Esterdo de Punta Banda just south of Ensenada; Bahia de San Quintin just west of the town of San Quintin, about 75 miles south of Ensenada. 
Bahia de San Quintin
Estero de Punta Banda
Shorebirds massed on a mudflat in San Quintin Bay
during a spring census.
census.
First official protection for the barrier beach at Estero de Punta Banda.