Mission Bay (San Diego)
Wakeboarding, jet skiing, sailing, camping, cycling, jogging, roller skating, skateboarding, and sunbathing are all popular around the bay.
It is also home to an impressive diversity of rare, threatened, and endangered bird and plant species, despite the popularity of the area for people and dogs.
This periodic shifting changed where the river carried silt and sand and had the potential to transform a small bay into an estuary and then into a shallow water tidal marsh over time.
In 1852 the United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed a dike along the south side of the river to prevent water from flowing into San Diego Bay.
The name "Mission Bay" comes from a poem by Rose Hartwick Thorpe originally published in San Francisco newspaper The Golden Era in 1888.
[4] In 1944, a chamber of commerce committee recommended development of Mission Bay into a tourism and recreational center, in order to help diversify the city's economy, which was largely military.
Twenty-five million cubic yards of sand and silt were dredged to create the varied land forms of the park, which is almost entirely man-made.
From 1957 to 1962 large amounts of industrial waste, including millions of gallons of hydrofluoric, nitric, sulfuric, and hydrochloric acids, dichromate, cyanide, and carbon tetrachloride, were deposited into an unlined landfill located in the south shores section of Mission Bay Park immediately east of SeaWorld.
[5] The first modern swim/bike/run event to be called a "triathlon" was held at Mission Bay, San Diego, California on September 25, 1974.
It was reportedly not inspired by the French events,[6] although a race held the following year at Fiesta Island, San Diego, is sometimes called "the first triathlon in America.
[citation needed] Rose Creek flows into Mission Bay from the north, creating a rich wetland area called the Kendall Frost Marsh.
The San Diego Audubon Society worked with conservation partners, stakeholders, and community members to develop three versions of a community-informed plan to restore and expand wetlands in the northeast corner of Mission Bay.
[10] Mission Bay has 27 miles (43 km) of shoreline, 19 of which are sandy beaches with eight locations designated as official swimming areas.
[11] Swimmers and sunbathers take advantage of the warm water, calm surf conditions and the sands of Mission Bay's beaches.
Mission Bay offers boat docks and launching facilities, sailboat and motor rentals, bike/walk paths and basketball courts.
One of the largest rowing regattas in the country is held on Mission Bay each year: The San Diego Crew Classic is held in Mission Bay every spring, featuring two days of competition in eight-oared shells rowed by more than 100 college, club, and senior crews.
[clarification needed] The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for Mission Bay based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in fish caught here.
[20] A program goes into effect every April through September to protect this bird at four of its nesting sites in Mission Bay Park.
The San Diego Visitor Information Center was constructed in northeastern Mission Bay in the 1960s, and it served its purpose until it closed down in 2010.
