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On January 30, as I sat in the back seat of a car stuck in ski traffic, I tapped on an Instagram story from a college friend. It was a missing poster for my friend Max.
Missing? I scrolled frantically for more information; a dozen of my friends had shared the same poster. Max had gone for a trail run in San Diego the day before, I learned, and he hadn’t come home.
As
Backpacker’s skills and survival editor
, I’ve seen far too many tragic stories that start the same way, but I’ve also seen plenty end happily. Max was an athletic, capable outdoorsman. We’d rock climbed together often in college. He was the strongest climber I knew (and the most supportive partner), incredibly fit, and very, very smart.
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Plans for a 52-mile trail system along the San Diego River are moving ahead through a new county task force of local nonprofit, tribal and government officials.
The goal of the San Diego River Park Task Force is “to accelerate the vision of an interconnected walk and bike system from Ocean Beach all the way to the mountains,” Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said in an interview Wednesday.
The task force met for the first time in March, when members identified priorities for the park, and again on Wednesday, to discuss funding for the plan. In coming months the group will set the route for a linear park along the waterway, decide on amenities, and propose a funding system for the improvements.
Ash-throated flycatcher
The Tall Locust Trees planted years ago along Julian’s narrow streets are once again brightening this backcountry (and former gold-rush) town with blossoms of white, pink, and lavender. Introduced into the West by 19th-Century emigrants, locust trees have become almost a trademark of California’s gold country, from the Mother Lode south to Julian.
San Diego’s Coastal Wildflower Bloom continues practically unabated this month owing to heavy rainfall during the past fall and winter seasons. On north-facing slopes and in shady canyon bottoms, where the sun’s drying effects have not yet taken hold, look for native red monkeyflower, blue-eyed grass, wild hyacinth, and nonnatives such as chrysanthemum and mustard. Irrigated freeway embankments, with showy African daisies, blooming iceplant, and other forms of groomed landscaping, continue to exhibit brash coloration.
SANTEE
In hopes of preventing future challenges like the ones faced by firefighters during a September fire in a Santee riverbed, the Santee City Council earlier this month approved $130,000 for the building of a firebreak.
City Manager Marlene Best proclaimed an emergency in asking the City Council to move quickly for a firebreak along the south property boundary of the western side of Mast Park where it abuts residences on Willowgrove Avenue, west of Carlton Hills Boulevard.
The firebreak will clear about 35 feet of dead vegetation and invasive trees from rear property lines across 2,300 feet and will allow easier access for firefighters near the San Diego River. There was already 15 feet of firebreak behind homes in the area, Santee Fire Capt. John Garlow explained, and so there will now be 50 feet of a break.
California to spend $536M to combat wildfires
The state is taking a more than half billion dollar jump start to combat what officials say could be a grim fire season in 2021.
and last updated 2021-04-08 19:20:04-04
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) The state is taking a more than half billion dollar jump start to combat what officials say could be a grim fire season in 2021.
âThe hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting drier,â Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Thursday.
Newsomâs words are especially relevant in San Diego, which has only seen 4.8 inches of rain since October, putting the region on pace for its 18th driest year here in data dating back to 1851.