Tag: nature

SMT Upcoming Events – Join us!

It’s spring! And that means EarthFair in Balboa Park and Explore MTRP Day in east Mission Trails. Stop by our booths and say hello to Save Mission Trails volunteers!

EarthFair in Balboa Park
Sunday, April 17, 10 am to 5 pm
Kick off the day with the Children’s Earth Parade at 10:30 am – about 30 minutes long. Hang out by our booth for a great view! Or…have kids? Dress them as their favorite animal and join our contingent!
At the SMT booth (space #235 at El Prado East near the Natural History Museum), children can create a cool nature craft, and grown ups can view a map to find out about all the slated development encroaching Mission Trails — and what can be done to preserve our park, community, and the adjacent East Elliott area.
If you’d like to volunteer to help out at the SMT booth, please contact us right away at savemissiontrails@gmail.com.
Here is the EarthFair website with details, including public transportation and parking.

Explore Mission Trails Day
Saturday, May 21, 9 am to 2 pm
Look for the SMT booth in the East Fortuna Staging Area (formerly known as the Equestrian Area), which can be accessed from Mast Blvd at West Hills Pkwy.
Children can create a cool nature craft, and grown ups can view a map to find out about all the slated development encroaching Mission Trails — and what can be done to preserve our park, community, and the adjacent East Elliott area. Also, there will be free pony rides (until 12:30), a mini mountain bike track, a climbing wall, live animals, and other crafts and fun for children. Family events will take place throughout the park.
If you’d like to volunteer to help out at the SMT booth, please contact us at savemissiontrails@gmail.com.
Here is the MTRP website with event details, including a schedule, map, and parking.

Mission Trails When the Days are Short

San Diego does not exhibit the kinds of blatant seasonal changes that you see in Vermont, Oregon or Michigan; we have a more subtle shift in the weather.  Here is what it looks like when winter comes to Mission Trails.

The sun goes down sooner…

Moon rise on a crisp blue sky is common.

Oak leaves turn orange and then drop off at their leisure.

The dam swells from occasional rainstorms.

Note:  Our iconic Mission Dam will turn 200 in the year 2016, which is the same time Cogentrix would construct their Quail Brush power plant in a spot that could be seen from just above the dam.

This is where many of us come to escape the distractions of civilization and the work-a-day life.  We all need Nature to balance us.

Have you ever sat on a rock and looked closely at the colors and patterns?

The sky flaunts drama.

Sunset signals our time to say goodbye until the next time.

Photographs copyright by Patty Mooney

Zombies Arise Near Proposed Quail Brush Power Plant Site

Is this what we want to have happen if we allow Cogentrix to steamroll us and get their way with an already-archaic fossil-fuel power plant which is slated to spew over 200,000 TONS of toxins into our air?  The Quail Brush Power Plant would be located just behind these zombies.

 

 

All kidding aside, we must continue to be vigilant on this important issue, or we will wake up to a humming, whirring, belching, farting power plant right on top of our beloved Mission Trails Regional Park, and we will belatedly wonder if there is something more that we could have done to prevent it.

 

Does Jane Dumas Know Cogentrix is Trying to Ruin Mission Trails?

Jane Dumas is a respected Kumeyaay elder who was honored on April 28th by having a day named after her at Mission Trails Regional Park.  Kumeyaay is Jane’s first language and she remains one of the last living fluent speakers of the Kumeyaay language in the world.  And she has spent the last 60 years of her life educating people about Kumeyaay history and culture.

After I came across this heart-warming story about Jane Dumas Day, and learned about all she has done in support of Mission Trails Regional Park, I wondered if she had been apprised of the fact that Cogentrix and Sempra Energy are trying to ruin Mission Trails by placing their unsightly, noisy power plant right next to the Equestrian Center, just north of Kumeyaay Lake.

What I have appreciated about various tribes, after having studied their history for the last 45 years of my life, and contributing to various American Indian charities, is that their spirituality is rooted in Nature.  Does anyone remember the commercial featuring an Indian man weeping at the sight of pollution in the river?  I am afraid that Jane Dumas will have a reaction very similar to that, when someone informs her of what is happening now, just a few months after the day she was honored at her beloved park.

“. . . WHEREAS, Jane Dumas was inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002 and is recognized as the catalyst for Mission Trails Regional Park acquiring a Kumeyaay-Diegueño Nation flag to fly proudly at the Kumeyaay Lake and Campground in her honor from here on out; AND

WHEREAS, Jane continues to share her expertise in medicinal plants by teaching Ethnobotany classes at Sycuan’s Kumeyaay Community College.  It is her hope that the knowledge and traditions of her people will continue to be passed down from generation to generation and never be forgotten; NOW THEREFORE. . . “

. . . Jane Dumas we need you to stand with us now as we struggle to save Mission Trails Regional Park.

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“Our Prayer for Mission Trails” – A Poem by Bonnie Jean Flach

 

Come along with me
let’s have a talk
about the land of the
coyote and the hawk
let’s soak it in
as along we walk
We say our prayers
and ask God to grant
this land to be
forever free with
no polluting
power plant

by bonnie jean flach
copyrighted – all rights reserved

Kids Love Mission Trails

A lot of curious children (and their parents) showed up to visit Mission Trails Regional Park on “Explore Mission Trails Day” this past weekend.

Looking to the future, this little girl happily signed the Children’s Petition to Stop the Quail Brush Power Plant and “Save Mission Trails.”

Hikers set out on a little hike.  The power plant would be visible if they turned to the right, on the other side of  Highway 52.

Kids of all ages had a chance to meet some of the critters that live in Mission Trails, like this barn owl.

Mission Trails is beloved by children, and the child in all of us.  Let’s keep it that way!

If you oppose the construction of the Quail Brush Power Plant right next to Mission Trails, send your note of opposition today to:

Send your note of opposition today RE: 11-AFC-03, Quail Brush Power Plant, City of San Diego Project #270282 to:

planningcommission@sandiego.gov

CEC Project Manager
Eric Solorio    ESolorio@energy.state.ca.us

CEC Commissioners:
Karen Douglas   <kldougla@energy.ca.gov>
Carla Peterman  <cpeterma@energy.ca.gov>

Mayor Jerry Sanders     JerrySanders@sandiego.gov

SD City Council
Anthony Young <anthonyyoung@sandiego.gov>
Carl DeMaio <CarlDeMaio@sandiego.gov>
David Alvarez <davidalvarez@sandiego.gov>
Kevin Faulconer <kevinfaulconer@sandiego.gov>
Lori Zapf <loriezapf@sandiego.gov>
Marti Emerald <martiemerald@sandiego.gov>
Sherri Lightner <SherriLightner@sandiego.gov>
Todd Gloria <toddgloria@SANDIEGO.GOV>