Native Plants, Indigenous Wisdom, and a Vision for the Future: The Black Mountain Restoration Project

By: Anna Luo

[Editor’s note: Anna is currently a junior at Canyon Crest Academy and has been a regular volunteer at our restoration project in the Black Mountain Open Space. She submitted this article to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, which is an annual national competition for students in grades 7-12. She received an Honorable Mention for this article. Here is a link to the program website: https://www.artandwriting.org/awards/ ]

As the most biodiverse county in the nation, San Diego hosts over 1,500 native plant species, including 368 classified as rare. Furthermore, San Diego’s coastal sage scrub habitat is one of the region’s most valuable ecosystems, providing a home for countless plants and animals found nowhere else. However, the future of these species is under threat. Urbanization and human activity have already wiped out 70% of the coastal sage scrub habitat, leaving over 140 plant and animal species endangered or highly threatened.

To combat this, the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, a nonprofit organization, has been working to protect and restore local habitats. For more than 40 years, they have guided hikes in the area, collaborated with local schools, and led volunteer restoration events in several areas. One such event, the Black Mountain Restoration Project, focuses on rehabilitating degraded areas within Black Mountain Open Space Park.

This particular restoration project began a decade ago as a small effort between a couple volunteers. The initial goal was to grow native plants in their backyards to replace invasive species like artichoke thistle and black mustard. Over time, their work expanded as they began sourcing plants from local nurseries to increase biodiversity. “When you’re doing a restoration, you want a lot of variety,” explains Beth Mather, the organization’s president. “It’s healthier.”

The importance of biodiversity is supported by scientific research. A study from the University of Pennsylvania found that restoring degraded habitats globally could remove up to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by 2030. To put it into perspective, one gigaton is roughly twice the mass of all humans on Earth!

This restoration project also involves repairing historical damage. The area, once part of Rancho de los Peñasquitos, California’s first Mexican land grant, was heavily used for cattle grazing and agriculture throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. These activities depleted the soil and destroyed much of the native vegetation. Today, this restoration project focuses on restoring the land by reintroducing plants like prickly pear cacti (Opuntia), which are vital to the coastal sage scrub ecosystem. This species of cacti is especially important for the coastal cactus wren, a bird found only in Southern California. “The cactus wren population was hit hard by the Witch Creek fires,” explains Mike, the conservation chair for the Friends. “Because they’re very poor flyers, we want to prevent catastrophic losses to their population by expanding their habitat in this area.”

The Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve also integrates Indigenous knowledge into their restoration practices. Del, a board member studying ecology and Kumeyaay studies, is exploring ways to incorporate traditional methods into modern conservation efforts. One of his current projects involves developing plant protectors made from willow branches. “These could be a more environmentally friendly alternative to the plastic plant protectors we currently place around the growing plants,” he notes, reflecting Kumeyaay’s emphasis on minimizing environmental impact.

As the climate crisis continues to worsen, the Friends of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve serves as a reminder that protecting the environment is not just a task for scientists and policymakers, it’s something everyone can be a part of. And as Del puts it, “Sustainable practices, like the ones the Kumeyaay used, weren’t just altruistic, they were also practical and necessary for long-term success.”

Canyon Crest Academy students volunteering at Black Mountain Park on April 5 2025

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Citations:

Brooks, Del. Discussion during volunteer restoration event at Black Mountain. Personal recording, 1 Dec. 2024.

City of San Diego. Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. City of San Diego, https://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/osp/lospenasquitos

Kelly, Mike. Discussion during volunteer restoration event at Black Mountain. Personal recording, 29 Oct. 2023.

Mather, Beth. Personal interview, 24 Feb. 2024.

San Diego Zoo Global. Saving Species: Building a Future for Wildlife. Vol. 1, 2018. science.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/Saving%20Species%202018%20Vol%201.pdf.

University of Pennsylvania. “Restoring Degraded Habitats and Climate Change Mitigation “; University of Pennsylvania, 2023, https://lpsonline.sas.upenn.edu/features/nature-based-solutions-harnessing-power-ecosystems-climate-change-mitigation