RiverWatch - July 2023... Our Shared Purpose

Update: It is with a heavy heart that we share another loss with the community. Carol Clarke, friend to the River Park, Greenfield Middle School teachers, and FIMO just to name a few, has passed on at the beginning of July. We pray for all those who mourn her passing.

Monarch photo credit: Lamont Richardson

While the only constant in life is change, our purpose at the river park remains the same: to preserve the biological integrity of the San Diego River while offering recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities to the community. Founded in 2001, the river park's first project was to transform 100 acres of exhausted sand mine back into viable riparian habitat. Today, our wetland areas have matured and are alive with native and migratory species, and our work in the watershed has evolved to include fire and flood protection through the management of vegetation.

CURRENT PROJECTS

With the generous help of funding partners, Lakeside's River Park Conservancy has four big projects in the works right now.

We are planting native plants to create a future canopy over the western segment of our High Trail - the "Sahara" section - with a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency and watering support from Lakeside Land Co.

We are starting Phase 2 of construction of the San Diego River Science Field Station classrooms, with grant support from the San Diego River Conservancy (SDRC) and the D2 County Board of Supervisors. We can't wait to see these buildings bustling with future scientists!

Also with SDRC support, we are continuing to remove brush, dead wood, and other fire fuel from El Monte Valley, and have embarked on an ambitious project to remove Arundo donax and other invasive species from 176 acres of river bank in the next two years. We have been removing non-native species from San Diego River waterways for over a decade, so with the permission of property owners we will be revisiting areas we have treated before as well as targeting new areas for management.

Whew! If you see Robert and the crew out on the trail, please know that this is the team that makes it all happen - as well as keeping up the park itself so this unique habitat continues to thrive.

Many thanks to our project partners: