Photograph by Fonatur
Location: Loreto Bay, Baja California
November 1, 2006
Most of us breathed a sigh of relief when nasally, Dumbo-eared Ross Perot did
not become our 42nd president. But you have to admit the guy had a penchant for infuriatingly
pragmatic declarations. And if his no-nonsense definition of “activist” tells it plainly like it is—that
an activist is the man who cleans up the river, not the one who says it is dirty—then Canadian
developer David Butterfield is one to the core.
For years Butterfield has been proving that “sustainable development” is not
a contradiction in terms. At projects like Civano in Tucson (he was the initial founder) and Shoal
Point in British Columbia, he designed comprehensive plans for energy-efficient communities that make less
of an impact on the land. With his latest development, Loreto Bay on the Sea of Cortés in Mexico’s Baja
California Sur (BCS), he goes one better, attempting not only to avoid further damage to the landscape
from human incursion, but also to regenerate the land to something resembling its former ecological
glory. And that “huge sucking sound” you hear (to quote Perot one last time—we promise) is the tide
of investors making its way to Loreto to snatch up homes that range from an eminently affordable
$380,000 to $2 million, or to build more elaborate custom residences on waterside lots priced from $750,000
to $1.15 million.
Butterfield’s ambitions are grand indeed. The $3 billion plan’s projected
15-year span calls for, among other things: producing more energy from renewable resources and
harvesting more potable water than the community actually consumes; creating more biodiversity, biomass and
habitat than existed when the first backhoe hit the soil; and building sustainable economic and
social capital for native Loretanos.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Most homes are built in the native vernacular. Photograph by Werner Segarra. (Click image to enlarge)
The breadth of the project is unprecedented. It even extends, says Loreto Bay
Company vice president for sustainability David Veniot, to the soap Butterfield wants to stock in
the Loreto Bay Beach Club & Spa that is about to break ground. “David said, ‘So many of these products
are benign,’” recalls Veniot. “Then he started to consider using products that contribute to
the environment. He thought we should do some chemical soil analyses and talk to cosmetics companies about
developing products that actually help enrich the soil.”
When the Milan-born priest Juan Maria de Salvatierra landed in Baja in 1697
and established the Mission of Our Lady of Loreto (Latin for “laurel”), he found native
populations living in relative harmony with nature on an alluvial plain hemmed by two watersheds, El Tular
and El Zacatal. Early Jesuit illustrations of the area show beavers, so water was evidently
abundant enough to support them. Estuary waters flowing through miles of mangroves teemed with fish that came
here to spawn then return to the bountiful Sea of Cortés.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Photograph by Werner Segarra. (Click image to enlarge)
But within 300 years, the majority of the mangroves disappeared, consumed as
fuel, building material or charcoal. Ranching and agriculture drained the soil of nutrients. By the
1900s, trawlers were devastating fish populations and a virus had killed the oyster beds.
Nowadays, mule deer, turkey vultures and sheep roam through the mesquite and cactus of a desert
landscape.
Not surprisingly, the primary instrument of regeneration for Loreto Bay is
water. Of the 8,000 acres, 5,000 will remain a natural preserve. Some 25 hectares (about 62 acres) of
estuaries are being carved out and planted with mangrove forests, which, points out the company’s Debra
Stevens, will both revitalize spawning grounds for the Sea of Cortés and create more local
industry. “Every hectare of mangrove forest produces one ton of marketable fish,” she explains, “so it is
ecologically as well as economically sustainable.” Constructing borders and gavions (small, dam-like
structures) will help restore El Tular and El Zacatal by capturing more rainwater and slowing down
the flow from higher altitudes, thus diverting runoff to restock the aquifer. Paspallum grass will
carpet the golf course, its high saline tolerance allowing it to be maintained with brackish water.
And by 2007, a sewage system will recycle cleaned water for irrigation systems and toilet
flushing.
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