On September 3rd, the Conservancy and River Park continued our educational partnership with High Tech Elementary North County in San Marcos. Fifty 4th graders joined Conservation Manager Jess Norton and Interpretive Ranger Leana Bulay at Bernardo Bay for a native plant hike. Students learned about the importance of native plants in the local food web, collected samples for their field notebooks, and finished the morning with a nature-based scavenger hunt.

The Conservancy, River Park, SDG&E, and the 22nd Agriculture District partnered to host over 200 volunteers at the San Dieguito Lagoon for I Love A Clean San Diego's Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19th.


Volunteers covered over 5 miles, filling a 40-yard roll-out trash container with 3,360 pounds non-native plants and collecting over 150 pounds of recycling.


Other activities included planting 250 native plants in a restoration area, potting 350 cuttings of willow and mule fat, trimming a mile of trail, repainting a curb and eight Lagoon Trail benches, and removing trash via kayak. There was also a Children's Art of Nature station, where over 20 children made an art pieces.


This countywide cleanup consisted of more than 100 different cleanup sites, and 7,000+ volunteers. California Coastal Cleanup Day is the state's largest volunteer event. When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by Ocean Conservancy and taking place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events in the world.

As another aspect of the Every Trail Connects campaign, the Conservancy partnered with REI for a service project on Saturday, September 26th -- National Public Lands Day, a day dedicated to volunteer efforts to improve, maintain, and care for public lands. About 100 volunteers joined us at the San Dieguito Lagoon to clear debris and prepare the site for the River Path Del Mar extension. 

Nearly 200 hikers were treated to a lagoon-side view of the Super Harvest Moon
total lunar eclipse on September 27th. The Full Moon Hike at the San Dieguito Lagoon is one of the Conservancy's signature hikes and one of our most popular family events. This free hike gave people a rare opportunity to walk along the berm in the center of the lagoon -- an area not normally open to the public.