A New Year, A New Vision

As 2023 comes to a close, and we look to the future, Back Country Land Trust is planning many new and exciting ventures for the year to come. We are planning to restart regular trail hikes and there will be plenty of new volunteer opportunities that will be available for spring and summer (look out for updated dates/times in the coming weeks). If you have any comments, or recommendations about the kind of information you would love to learn on these guided hikes, please email us at: backcountrylandtrust@gmail.com

Furthermore, as many of you know, the plans for the County Park located near Wright’s Field have recently been approved, and construction is set to begin in Spring of 2024. As an organization dedicated to wildlife conservation, this matter is extremely important to us all, which is why we have prepared this letter for the Alpine community and everyone that enjoys the beauty that is Wright’s Field :

– County Park Plans Recently Approved –

The famous poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is an apt allegory for Back Country Land Trust’s collaboration with the San Diego County Park recently approved for the southeast curve of South Grade Road in Alpine. “…I say this with a sigh…” the poem mentions in its last stanza, for where the road leads is indeed a hopeful path.

The BCLT is confident the preservation of environmental and cultural resources on the vast majority of
the County’s 95-acres fits with our duty to protect BCLT’s preserved lands on nearby Wright’s
Field. The 230-acres of Wright’s Field owned and managed by BCLT will remain available and accessible
to the Alpine community who have enjoyed it, past, present, and will continue to enjoy it in the future.
Likewise, the County Park’s plan offers amenities needed and missed by many in Alpine, and adds
to the Alpine community with playing fields, a protected bike park and path around South
Grade Rd., a community garden, and equestrian and emergency fire facilities.

For over ten years, BCLT has been implementing native habitat and sensitive species restoration and
management on Wright’s Field, and these efforts demonstrated tremendous success at not just
maintaining the native habitats that occur at Wright’s Field, but also recovering habitat and species that were threatened with significant or even total loss. These efforts maintained and
enhanced habitat for threatened and endangered species like the Hermes Copper butterfly and the
spadefoot toad, and re-established habitat for species almost lost at Wright’s Field, like the San Diego
Thornmint and the Quino Checkerspot butterfly.

As part of the County Park’s proposed mitigation plan, the Park will develop 27-acres of their land,
leaving 68-acres to be set aside as permanently conserved native habitat, including the areas adjacent to BCLT’s Wright’s Field. This newly conserved land will come with a program of habitat management and monitoring to protect this conserved land in perpetuity. This management will include directives, goals, and methods to meet those goals, similar to what BCLT has been implementing for many years. As part of this mitigation effort, the County will also fund habitat restoration and management on BCLT’s Wright’s Field where there are identified needs for ecological restoration for the sensitive plants and animals that occur on Wright’s Field. The County’s habitat mitigation plan will result in conservation and management on not just the remaining 68-acres of conserved County land but will also significantly contribute to the conservation and management efforts for BCLT’s Wright’s Field.

We are also mindful of our duty to protect our cultural inheritance, passed down to us from the original holders of Wright’s Field. Just like BCLT does on our portion of Wright’s Field, the cultural resources that occur on the County’s land will be conserved for current and future generation to respect and enjoy. The County Park’s 95-acres and BCLT’s contiguous larger parcel will protect these cultural resources together as one.

The “road not taken” is ironic in a way maybe not apparent at first. Previously, BCLT tried to raise money to buy the 95-acres to add to the larger Wright’s Field preserve we own. When other proposed
development plans threatened to destroy the 95-acre parcel entirely, we hoped for just one more
chance at preservation.

So, we at the Back Country Land Trust are grateful for the County’s gift of the road we’re taking,
confident in Wright’s Field’s future and its continuing benefits to the important resources at Wright’s
Field and the community of Alpine.

Thank you all for your continued support!