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San Diego's North County open spaces
Development of
our open space canyons, streams and mesas is proceeding at a furious pace
in the North City area
of San Diego. One day a ridge line is covered with chaparral
vegetation, the next its been graded flat, destroying in days
what it took nature millennia to evolve.
What's at stake?
San Diego is one of the bio-diversity hot spots of the entire nation.
There are more species of plants and animals found only in San Diego County than most of the U.S. east of the
Mississippi combined. Climate, geology, and topography have all combined to support a variety of natural
habitats not found elsewhere.
And what more wonderful a place to take a nature hike, ride
a mountain bike, or ride your horse? And the North City
area of San Diego is second to none in these respects.
In addition to the area’s natural resources, there are important cultural resources, including:
• Native American sites many thousands of years old.
• Rancho Santa Maria de los Peñasquitos, the oldest standing residence in San Diego County, an adobe ranch house first constructed in 1823 during San Diego’s Mexican period.
• A 1920s era arsenic/gold mine located on Black Mountain, a future interpretive site for visitors.
How much of our open space and cultural resources are protected?
Between the communities of Mira Mesa and Rancho Peñasquitos,
Los Peñasquitos
Canyon Preserve stretches from the merge of I-5 and I-805 in
Sorrento Valley into Sabre Springs east of I-15. Now about
4,000 acres, it is publicly owned by the City and the County
of San Diego.
On the preserve’s
northern border with Del Mar Mesa, various public agencies have
been buying open space parcels to add to the Preserve. The Del
Mar Mesa also includes Carmel Mountain Preserve, about 400 acres, saved
from development after a 10-year battle by community and environmental
groups, including the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.
West of Peñasquitos Canyon Preseve and the Del Mar Mesa, Torrey
Pines State Reserve occupies a beautiful part of the coast, including Peñasquitos
Lagoon. Unfortunately, it is largely isolated from other
open space areas, connected only by crossings under freeways
at two places.
North of Rancho Peñasquitos, Black Mountain Open Space Park
has recently grown to over 1,000 acres.
Farther north lies the San Dieguito River Valley Park, separated
from Black Mountain Open Space Park by over 6,000 acres of
old agricultural lands, some of which are now being developed.
Gaps and Connections
The list of open space parks sounds impressive
until you look at a map and see the gaps that exist between
them. The City of San
Diego has a plan that shows connections that would link up
these lands into an interconnected system of core preserves,
wildlife and trails corridors. To make this
plan work will require broad community support.
Role of the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
In the early 1980s the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
was formed as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit to protect as much of the old Peñasquito Rancho lands
as possible. As the preserve became a fact in the 1980s and 90s, the Friends turned their
attention to the other open space lands to the north and decided to organize to expand them and connect
them up with wildlife and trails corridors. With broad community support the Friends were able
to shift Route 56 out of Deer Canyon, San Diego’s last undeveloped coastal canyon, and up onto the old
agricultural lands. Broad public support and a strong volunteer effort also stopped the City from
building more roads across Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, leaving us at least one place we can
escape the din of the city. As these lands are acquired, the Friends also began to help in
managing and interpreting them through a wide variety of activities:
• leading nature walks;
• publishing a newsletter;
• a Habitat Restoration team to remove invasive exotic plants and to restore
native plants such as cottonwoods in their place;
• conducting endangered plant surveys;
• training volunteers in wildlife track and sign surveys;
• sponsoring educational talks and seminars;
• organizing public support campaigns to save and connect these open
space areas.
There is still much to do and we need your help.
Join us, now! |
