At Wednesday’s San Diego City Council meeting, members unanimously approved a 53-acre land donation from the nonprofit Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation.
This addition expands Mission Trails, a city of San Diego Open Space Park that spans more than 8,000 acres and offers 65 miles of trails. Combined with a previous donation made in July 2024, the MTRP Foundation has now contributed a total of 108 acres to the park. The city of San Diego and the MTRP Foundation continue working to acquire privately owned parcels within the park’s boundaries, most of which are located north of SR-52 in the East Elliott Community Planning Area.
These acquisitions align with the park’s 2019 Master Plan Update and the Multiple Species Conservation Program, a regional effort to protect land vital to local wildlife and plant species. The MTRP Foundation, founded in 1988, secured grants for this land purchase from the San Diego River Conservancy, an independent state agency.
“The San Diego River Conservancy is proud to support the MTRP Foundation’s land acquisition initiative as it will improve the San Diego River watershed, support wildlife, and preserve and protect the land for future generations,” said SDRC Executive Officer Julia Richards.
Lane MacKenzie, president of the MTRP Foundation Board of Directors, expressed gratitude for SDRC’s support: “We at the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation are grateful to the San Diego River Conservancy for awarding $4M in grants to date for land acquisition, conserving land in perpetuity and adding the acreage to Mission Trails.”
City Planning Director Heidi Vonblum also emphasized the significance of the donation: “The City of San Diego is grateful to the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation for its generous land donation and ongoing commitment to conservation. Through our partnership, we are expanding protected open spaces, preserving San Diego’s unique biodiversity, and ensuring future generations can enjoy the natural beauty of Mission Trails Regional Park. Each addition to the park and the Multiple Species Conservation Program strengthens our efforts to conserve endangered plants and wildlife, and we look forward to continuing this important work together.”
For more information on land acquisition efforts and other park initiatives, visit www.mtrp.org.
