San Diego is one of the most biodiverse hotspots on the planet. From our coast to our mountains and deserts, there are 1,570 native plant species and 3,072 insects, birds and animals that thrive and give San Diego its unique identity. San Diego’s special habitat is worthy of protection, investment and ongoing resources to maintain it.
Our canyons are the places where many of those species reside. Canyons provide not only habitat but as importantly health benefits, like clean air and water, educational opportunities for all ages, hiking trails and fire mitigation when maintained properly. Canyons help create better communities for San Diego citizens and the natural environment is a potent economic driver for our region.
There are two significant actions San Diego took to protect important environments in our region. The Multiple Species Conservation Program was enacted in 1997 to protect canyons as well as other special habitat. It protects one of the largest urban preserves in the country. Then in 2008 San Diego Canyonlands was created.
There have been many plans by professionals, mayors, universities and the community at large. going back as far as John Nolen’s Comprehensive Plan for San Diego in 1908, that encourage maintaining and enhancing San Diego’s unique system of canyons.
In Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard’s “Temporary Paradise?” study from 1974, they identified canyons as an important piece of our urban form that should be protected and celebrated. They are the natural urban design framework for the city.
The study made suggestions to bring the canyon environment out of the canyons and into the neighborhoods. The extensions into the neighborhoods may be boulevards, parks, plazas and other found space that brings nature into the neighborhood and provides places for people to interact.
Creating through-lines to other neighborhoods has been suggested, using green streets and promenades that connect them to schools, parks and other canyons. The recommendation is even more relevant today as our population has grown and the need for land for housing and communities pushes up against the urban wildland interface. The canyons are part of the public realm and we must continue to use them to shape community now and into the future.
The canyonlands are not only natural habitat and urban boundaries but they serve other human needs as well. They become our connection to nature for our physical, mental and communal well-being. Canyons are the lungs of the region and are critical to our health.
In 2005, San Diegan Richard Louv, author and journalist, wrote the book “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.” It directly correlated spending too much time in front of screens with negative impacts to our children’s health. The book, and the disorder he coined, catalyzed a global movement that continues to grow in significance.
Several nonprofit organizations are working for continued stewardship of our canyons.
Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek was founded in 2007 to work with the community to develop the Chollas Creek Watershed Masterplan. They have almost two decades of experience working with their communities on social, environmental and climate justice issues.
They are working on a plan that links to the Bayshore Bikeway, to connect communities and create a healthy transportation option. This was part of the San Diego Parks Master Plan which was adopted three years ago. A grant from SANDAG is helping to make this a reality.
San Diego Canyonlands is a nonprofit organization that strives to protect, promote and restore the important canyon ecosystems of our city. It works with neighborhood teams to clear invasive species and brush for wildfire resilience and does ecosystem restoration. A part of the work is done in underserved communities where they develop future environmental stewards.
In 2021 a partnership was formed with the San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego Canyonlands and Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek called the Healthy Canyons initiative. Their collective work includes filling data gaps, identifying conservation threats and engaging communities.
They found that 81% of the 1.4 million residents in the city of San Diego live within a 10-minute walk to a park or green space, predominately in urban canyons. Most canyons do not have budgets for maintenance and enhancements so this stat alone is significant. Caring for our canyons will add to the quality of the lives of San Diegans. The canyons must have resources to support them.
A new emerging organization is the Urban Canyons Community Land Trust. They are looking to build a collective in central San Diego to work on shared challenges. Fragmented ownership of 1900 acres of undeveloped, privately owned land in the canyons are increasingly under threat due to poor management practices like overgrowth of invasive plants, erosion and poor brush management. They were able to secure a grant to attend the annual Land Trust Alliance Rally in Denver, Colorado last month.
The contingency from San Diego included members from the budding canyon trust as well as members from San Diego Canyonlands, Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek, San Diego Coastkeeper, San Diego Habitat Conservancy and San Diego Coalition for Public Places.
There were 2200 attendees from across the country who attended the three-day event. The conference conducted workshops on how to start and maintain land trusts. Sessions covered climate change, water scarcity, clean water, renewable energy development, and special focuses on making the economic case for nature and open space.
The Nature Conservancy, one of the major sponsors, made a powerful case for conservation as a cost-effective way to grow the U.S. economy, protect public safety and reduce healthcare costs.
They developed a tool called “Nature’s Dividends: The Economic, Health and Safety Benefits of Investing in Nature.” It compiled research from hundreds of studies and articles. The research clearly pointed to the fact that protecting, restoring and enhancing nature is an essential way to support thriving communities and economies in the United States. The tool is for land trusts across the country to use to help make the case for how nature makes positive impacts to communities.
Other strategies for making the case for nature as an economic development tool include:
• Quantifying the public safety benefits of including storms and flooding protection, clean water, clean air, wildfire mitigation and even strengthened military readiness.
• Highlighting health benefits that include lowering chronic disease, and the costs associated with them, like PTSD, ADHD and depression.
• Identifying the significant economic benefits provided by outdoor recreation, jobs and quality-of-life amenities that attract visitors and residents.
• Recognizing that many nature-based economic development strategies provide multiple overlapping benefits.
• Noting that there is broad, bipartisan public support for nature in our communities and we need to make the case to legislators to ensure critical ongoing funding.
Momentum is building in San Diego with a growing group of experienced leaders who are collaborating and strategizing. They are taking on the important role of protecting, maintaining and enhancing one of San Diego’s greatest treasures, our canyons. With over 150 canyons in San Diego, we’re sure there’s one in your neighborhood where you can participate and make a contribution to protecting and investing in our precious natural infrastructure.
“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.” – Richard Louv
Michael J. Stepner, FAIA, FAICP, is former city of San Diego Architect and Professor Emeritus of the New School of Architecture and Design. He is the recipient of the 2024 AIA San Diego Lifetime Achievement Award. He serves on numerous boards and committees including the San Diego Coalition for Public Places.
Mary Lydon, the principal of Lydon Associates, has held leadership roles within the Urban Land Institute, the Downtown San Diego Partnership and Housing You Matters. She also served on the city of San Diego Planning Commission. She currently serves on the boards of the National Center for Creative Land Recycling, UC San Diego Housing Policy and Design Center, San Diego Coalition for Public Places and Humble Design San Diego.
