Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District

Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District

Pismo Lake Ecological Reserve

Supplemental to Pismo Lake Ecological Preserve Recreated

PL marsh img

A Dying Marsh

"Until the 1970's, the Pismo Lake Reserve had been a stable wetland, but the development of subdivisions upstream along Meadow Creek created massive erosion, which sent silt spilling into the lake at an alarming rate. Thirty acres of open water were soon reduced to 2 1/2 acres. As the water became shallower, reaching a critical depth of 3 feet, tules began spreading like wildfire, choking out natural vegetation that provided food and shelter for the animals." said Lidberg.

Grant funds for Resource Districts from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Agency are secured through the multi-county, Central Coast Resource Conservation & Development Council. Projects are proposed and once accepted, placed in their Annual Plan of Action and funded on a priority basis.

San Luis Obispo County Senior Planner, Norma Dengler, represented the Board of Supervisors on the Central Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council.

The limited RC&D funds were designated for projects in several counties and San Luis Obispo County had never received any substantial grants from the RC&D Program.

Joining together, Norma Dengler, D.G. Porter, and Ella Honeycutt presented the Pismo Lake Ecological Preserve proposal to the council. The Central Coast RC&D Council adopted the proposal to restore the dying marsh. It took several years of bringing the issue forward, before the proposal was funded. A $500,000 grant was secured and work began in 1978 on the reconstruction of the 30-acre open water Pismo Lake Ecological Reserve.

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Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District
Administered the $100,000
Pismo Lake Ecological Reserve Restoration Project

CSLRCD Directors:
Jim Miller, Harold Miossi, Bill Denneen, Dr. Tom Rice, John Swift, Vard Ikeda, Royce Lambert and Ella Honeycutt, President

Consultant, Clark Moore
District Conservationist Boyd Desonia
Pismo Lake Design, Jerry Czarnecki DC
Engineer, Mark Cocke

The Central Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council, local public officials and RCD directors from five counties visited Pismo Lake Ecological Reserve rehabilitation project on October 24, 1986.

The California Conservation Corps workers built a spillway to help maintain a five-foot level of water in the lake at all times. New habitat was gained when the stagnant side channel near the big tree was filled in. The big tree had to be removed because unsupervised children would climb the tree and swing out into the water by rope and drop into the shallow water.