What's Growing On - Fall 2006
"The Busy Season"

This newly acquired mini-excavator (see above), courtesy of a Environmental Management Program grant from SANDAG, will be essential equipment for Park Field Staff this fall and winter.

The busy season for the San Dieguito River Park field staff is well underway. Daytime temperatures started to become a little more agreeable just as the bird nesting restrictions were lifted and a more intense fieldwork schedule started shortly thereafter. The Park is implementing some interesting projects this year that will be occupying a lot of time, for all Park staff, all the way through to next spring.

Senior Park Ranger Dave Hekel teaches proper culvert installation to Rangers Ken Colburn and Natalie Borchardt.

Luckily the River Park has a great staff, including the addition of two new Park Rangers: Natalie Borchardt and Ken Colburn. They brought their own individual experience to the River Park and this summer Senior Ranger Dave Hekel, and I, to a lesser extent, worked to train them on the techniques, tools, and workings of San Dieguito River Park. They both have done an exceptional job and will fulfill critical roles during this busy season.

Erosion problem on a non-designated trail at Lake Hodges.

In most cases, a designated trail is one that has been carefully sited and designed and is regularly monitored and maintained.  A problem like the one above does not occur on the Park's designated trail system because those trails were designed to avoid problems such as this shown above and if a problem does develop it is quickly repaired. Non-designated trails are trails that were created over time by people or animals, or are old fire-break roads or otherwise not appropriate for trail use. SDRP discourages use of non-designated trails and works to repair them when there is an opportunity and also notifies the responsible agency.

The type and number of Park projects fluctuate year to year but one busy season constant is that trail usage will increase dramatically. Cooler temperatures and greener vegetation are factors that draw more people to our trail system in the fall. Also compounding the situation is the occasional rainstorm that occurs during the busy season and often creates erosion problems that need to be addressed immediately. Rain also encourages weeds to grow that often choke the trails, some worse than others. Park staff and work crews trim miles upon miles of trail every year, some sections two or three times. Park Rangers must develop a keen eye for native wildflowers because they often grow along the trails. The trail edges are kept relatively open and this allows room for the flower seed to germinate and grow with out competition from non-native weeds. Some trails that have a history of a wildflower display cannot be trimmed by work crews who don’t have a discriminating eye, instead the Park Ranger must carefully scout the trail and take care when weed whipping, spraying, or mowing. The seasonal weeds also bury newly planted native plants and must be pulled by hand when the soils are moist. This also requires a trained eye and great timing, unfortunately work crews and untrained volunteers often are unable to perform this task.   In addition to all of that, there is the maintenance of last year’s projects!

Field staff and volunteers filter rock from a trail near Bernardo Mountain.

Some projects of particular interest to field staff this year are:

Bernardo Mountain (See picture above) - Through a process of working with the trails community, biological consultants, and Park staff, a decision was made to create a better connection between the North Shore Lake Hodges Trail and the Bernardo Mountain Summit Trail. The work will result in a better trail experience for all and a much-enhanced native habitat by way of rehabilitation of approximately 1000 feet of trail that currently bisects coastal sage scrub that is occupied by two sensitive species: California gnatcatchers and coastal cactus wren.

In the San Dieguito Lagoon area, field staff will be constructing the Coast to Crest Trail on the north side of the San Dieguito River (above), stopping temporarily at I-5. Contractors will be building a 1200-foot boardwalk that will connect to this section from Jimmy Durante Blvd.

Coastal Trail – Work has begun on the restoration of the San Dieguito Lagoon. Along with the creation and enhancement of habitat, the Park is creating a trail system that will provide access to the restored wetlands. Field staff will be building about ¼ mile of trail this year and is also working with the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy to create upland habitat near this section of trail.

The soon to be constructed Del Dios Gorge Trail.   As seen in this photo, in order to put a trail through the Del Dios Gorge area, there were many obstacles that needed to be overcome including the need for a 180 foot bridge to cross the river.

Del Dios Gorge Trail – Field staff is making up for funding shortfalls by building sections of this technical trail that will travel from the Lake Hodges Dam, across the San Dieguito River, and make a connection with the Santa Fe Valley Trail. The logistics of working at this site complicate this project even further. Park offices are approximately 15 miles away and we are limping along with two banged up trucks! This project is by far the most time consuming task that we have to accomplish.

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