San Diego County launches native plant program

The southern California county may be among the first to adopt such a conservation and restoration program

The Green Dispatch resumes our practice of publishing guest editorials. This week’s contributor is Jonathan Appelbaum.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”—Helen Keller

Ms. Keller was, as we all know, blind and deaf.  And yet the early 20^th century author, activist, and lecturer had unlimited imagination. Could she and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, have imagined people joining together a hundred years later to champion nature and save wildlife by reshaping our communities, one garden at a time?

One such community working to preserve its natural heritage is the County of San Diego, where I live. In 2021, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors began the creation of a county-wide native plant landscaping program (modeled on San Francisco County’s 2018 Biodiversity Ordinance) to protect and enhance biodiversity across San Diego County. San Diegans may be familiar with Supervisor Lawson-Remer and then chief of staff Cody Petterson, who provided leadership in the formation of this program.

San Diego County is overrun with nonnative and invasive plants. Australian eucalyptus trees choke many of our canyons; mustard plants from Europe blanket hillsides; African iceplant overruns our native sages and succulents; and dozens of other nonnative plant species disrupt our local wildlife.

Plants native to our environment have evolved with local pollinators. Insects, birds, and other animals also rely on plants adapted to local conditions to provide food and shelter. As a biological hotspot, the most biodiverse county in the United States, the importance of a native plant program in San Diego cannot be overstated

Tecolote Canyon in San Diego gives a good example of native chaparral on the hillside being invaded by nonnative grasses that have taken over the bottom of the valley. Photo: San Diego Running Co sandiegorunningco.com

.To implement the program the Board of Supervisors crafted and approved the first of two resolutions to establish a Community Working Group of leaders drawn from community and environmental organizations. The working group comprises Clayton Tschudy, Executive Director of San Diego Canyonlands, an organization that restores and conserves the canyons of San Diego County; Frank Landis, Conservation Chair of the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society; and community leader Georgette Gomez, past President of the San Diego City Council. County staff were directed to work with the newly formed group on the development of a Native Plant Landscaping Program. The Board’s resolution also authorized the formation of the San Diego County Biodiversity Working Group and the development of a set of program recommendations by the Biodiversity Working Group referred to as the Vision Plan.

Following completion of the Vision Plan (available at https://www.sdcanyonlands.org/nativeplantprogram) in 2022, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors crafted and approved a second resolution that officially authorized the County’s Native Plant Landscaping Program in accordance with the Biodiversity Working Group’s recommendations as set forth in the Vision Plan.

To build the broadest public support possible, the nascent San Diego County Native Plant Landscaping Program will support local conservation goals through incentives and resources and few mandates. Any such mandates will be limited to county-managed public lands and new development. The program places high value on equity as well as conservation and on regional applicability, adaptability, and easy integration with other related programs like the county’s Multiple Species Conservation Plan, which preserves open space and habitat

The coastal sage scrub that is native to coastal San Diego. Photo: The San Diego Reader sandiegoreader.com

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The Vision Plan for the Native Plant Landscaping Program outlines numerous approaches to achieve meaningful benefits for San Diego’s native biodiversity. First and foremost, the program will direct county departments to increase the use of native plant species in the landscaping of county-owned or county-managed lands like county parks. It will also support the development of new online design tools to encourage private property owners to select native plant species for their new and existing residential landscaping.

In partnership with local nursery managers, the Native Plant Landscaping Program will solve the problem of homeowners and others being unable to find native plants at local nurseries by increasing the retail availability of native plants for residential landscaping throughout the county. It will increase fire safety outreach and increase awareness of the appropriate role of native plants in fire-safe landscaping or “firescaping.” Meanwhile, the program will provide resources to expand educational opportunities focused on San Diego’s unique biodiversity. It will also increase training for local educators and support curriculum development in San Diego County schools related to biodiversity, climate change, and plant-animal relationships.

With the Native Plant Landscaping Program officially authorized, the county is now developing the program in full. To this end, the county is forming a Community Advisory Group to steer the program. By identifying important resources, examples, and lessons learned from the field, this group will ensure that the Native Plant Landscaping Program is informed by stakeholders and is centered on equity. To sign up for email updates and join the Community Advisory Group visit: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CASAND/subscriber/new?topic_id=CASAND_601

With the Native Plant Landscaping Program, I share the hope with others that our neighborhoods will cease to be barren deserts to pollinators and other wildlife and instead become connected pathways for wildlife traveling more freely between our canyons, open spaces, and preserves. I believe our parks and yards will become refuges for the feathered and furry, second homes to the bumblebee and the butterfly. And I look forward to the day when San Diego school children learn about all of the biological wonders of San Diego County from the coast to the cactus.

Working together, we can get all of the municipalities within the county to embrace the same vision and take similar action to restore, conserve, and enhance our magnificent native biodiversity.

Alone we can do so little, but together we can and will do so much.

Jonathan Appelbaum is a conservation biologist and restoration ecologist who works with numerous non-profit organizations in southern California, including land conservancies and other environmental conservation organizations.  He currently manages and restores lands from the coast in Del Mar, California to the summit of Volcan Mountain in Julian.  He has called San Diego home for over twenty years.