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The Batiquitos Lagoon of prehistoric and early historic times lived up to its lagoon designation. Seawater surged in and out on the tides, alternately bathing and uncovering the low-lying, salt-tolerant vegetation, referred to as salt marsh habitat, an ecosystem of salt-tolerant vegetation increasingly threatened by coastal development throughout Southern California. In the 20th century, however, vast loads of soil loosened by agricultural activity and urban development on the lagoon’s watersheds were flushed downstream during winter floods. Much of this silt dropped out of suspension near the lagoon’s mouth, forming a plug that interfered with normal tidal flows. As a result, Batiquitos Lagoon lost its permanent connection to the ocean and became a stagnating, freshwater lake.

In a giant leap backward, or forward as the case may be, a massive dredging and lagoon restoration project in the 1990s converted the body of water back into a functioning estuary. Millions of cubic yards of sand were dredged from the lagoon’s bottom and entrance channel and deposited on nearby beaches or piled up along the lagoon shoreline to provide nesting sites for least terns and western snowy plovers.