Slightly more than 62 tons of brush and waste have been removed from Mission Trails Regional Park to reduce the risk of wildfires in communities nearby, restore natural habitat and protect the San Diego River watershed.
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“Mission Trails is city-owned land, but caring for more than 8,000 acres takes all of us,” Jennifer Morrissey, executive director of the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation, said during a news conference Wednesday. “This work isn’t just about taking invasive fire-prone plants out, it’s also about giving space for native plants to thrive.”
Crews from RECON Environmental, the foundation’s contractor, have helped clear some 756 acres of the park since September 2024. RECON has removed 29 individual 40-yard containers of green waste. That’s roughly the weight of 31 passenger cars.
The work was done through a $1.8 million award from the San Diego River Conservancy, an agency under the umbrella of the California Natural Resources Agency. The award is administered through the Mission Trails Foundation.
The grant runs through the fall of 2027 and the agreement specifically calls for lowering the risk and intensity of fire by reducing flammable fuel loads by removing non-native plants while protecting native habitat.
“We cannot guarantee that there won’t be a fire, but we can work endlessly to make sure your family is safe, and we leave no stone unturned,” said Raul Campillo, San Diego city council member and chair of the Mission Trails Regional Task Force and vice chair of the San Diego River Conservancy Board.
Wednesday’s news conference coincides with National Preparedness Month, observed each September to encourage people to take precautions for emergencies and disasters.
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“In San Diego, we don’t need a designated month to remind us to stay ready all the time,” said. “Wildfire is a year-round threat, and preparing for that threat is a shared responsibility.”
When work started three years ago, one of the first restoration efforts involved dethatching and removing years of accumulated dead, non-native vegetation. Getting rid of that layer helps reduce fuel loads and gives native vegetation more room to recover.
“We will never forget the lessons learned in 2003 and 2007,” said Mayor Todd Gloria, referring to the Cedar Fire in 2003 and the Witch Creek and Guejito Fires in 2007 that ravaged the area. “So proper brush management is a critical component of making sure that we are ready as a community when that day comes again.”
City of San Diego rangers and crews already conduct vegetation and brush management in various open-space locations. The Mission Trails project supplements and does not replace the work performed by the city.
Located just eight miles northeast of downtown San Diego, Mission Trails Regional Park includes about 60 miles of trails and is one of the largest urban parks in the country.
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