Why do preserves need to be actively managed and monitored?
Because of the highly urbanized condition of our region, natural habitat tends to be fragmented and interlaced with development. This results in larger edge-to-area ratio (i.e. smaller, isolated pieces of habitat have more edges adjacent to development than a single, large block of land). More edges lead to more detrimental “edge effects,” which include direct and indirect impacts from human activity. Edge effects can include excessive noise or nighttime lighting, which can disrupt breeding behavior of some sensitive bird species; pollutants (e.g. pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, discarded oil or paint thinner, etc.) from adjacent commercial or residential land use; impacts from pets chasing wildlife or leaving waste which is not cleaned up by their owners; and changes in hydrology from adjacent irrigation. For more information on edge effects, take a look at our brochure: Help Protect Carlsbad’s Natural Open Space.
