By Tommy Hough Thanks to everyone who joined us for our hike along the mesa tops and wooded canyon bottoms of Del Mar Mesa Preserve this past Sunday. Enjoy the photos of our trek collected here, courtesy of long-time San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action member Renée Owens, who won our first-ever Member of the Year award in 2017. Now threatened directly and indirectly by the construction of an 11-story office building and related office park on land surrounded on three sides by areas managed for conservation, the Del Mar Mesa Preserve is one of the best-preserved specimens of natural San Diego habitat, and home to endangered vernal pools, rare lichens, an assortment of birds from along the Pacific Flyway, and what may be the largest surviving wild Coastal scrub oak in San Diego County. It's a special, quiet place – and surprisingly wild along the canyon bottom in the tunnels of oak trees. Special thanks to Frank Landis from the San Diego chapter of the California Native Plant Society for leading the hike, founding club member and Torrey Hills Planning Board chair Kathryn Burton for her advocacy with Protect Our Preserves, club vice president Sara Kent for organizing the outing, and Sacramento attorney and California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus chair candidate Amar Shergill for joining us. Renée also supplied a few brief captions for each photo, numbered 1 to 26, beginning with the photo of our members on the trail: 1. Kevin Lourens, Cara Furio and Kathryn Burton (L to R) 2. Allen's hummingbird and bottlebrush 3. Black sage 4. California towhee 5. Camas 6. Canchalagua 7. Canchalagua 8. Echo blue butterfly 9. Female California quail 10. Male California quail 11. Mimilus aurantiacus 12. Muilla 13. Muilla 14. Nutall snapdragon 15. Raptor nest in coastal scrub oak 16. San Diego button celery (very rare) 17. Scrub jay 18. Splendid mariposa lily 19. Splendid mariposa lily 20. Star lily 21. Torrey Highlands vicinity 22. White catchalagua 23. Wild hyacinth 24. Greater roadrunner 25. Red admiral butterfly 26. Less than impressive vernal pool interpretive sign
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Green Thoughts
The blog component of San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action welcomes content from SDCDEA members, guests and leadership. Archives
October 2023
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