Valuing the Societal Benefits of River Restoration: A Socioeconomic and Ecosystem Services Assessment of the Santa Margarita River Bridge Project

The Santa Margarita River Bridge Project is a restoration effort in northern San Diego County, where the Sandia Creek Drive crossing currently blocks the passage of endangered Steelhead trout and is planned for replacement. The completion of this project will reconnect approximately 12 miles of upstream habitat by removing the final fish passage barrier from the Santa Margarita River system. This new bridge will improve emergency response access and evacuation reliability, as its design can withstand a 100-year storm event without overtopping. This project was conducted in collaboration with South Coast - California Trout and funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other state agencies.

In this project, we aim to quantify the socioeconomic benefits associated with the SMRP, assess ecosystem service benefits by restoring fish passage and river connectivity, develop a transferable valuation framework to better communicate returns on public investment, and to produce communication tools to assist in demonstrating the value of restoration to stakeholders and policymakers. The findings are to be presented as a final written report evaluating this project’s ecosystem service values, infographic reports for CalTrout’s State of Salmon Report and public communications, and a transferable valuation framework applicable to CalTrout restoration projects across California.