San Diego Canyons

These ecosystems are home to essential plants, diverse animal species, and seasonably variable streams. The neighborhoods constructed on mesas atop San Diego’s canyons are at high risk of catastrophic wildfires which endanger human lives, property, and infrastructure. Overabundant fire also threatens the plants and animals that rely on canyons for food, water, and habitat. Protecting the communities and ecosystems of San Diego’s canyons requires localized expertise and active land management to reduce fuel loads, enhance fire resilience, mitigate flooding, and support the biodiverse species that rely on remaining natural lands. To support these efforts, Blue Forest is exploring the development of a Resilience Bond in two San Diego canyons through the Tierrasanta Wildfire Resilience Project, in partnership with San Diego Canyonlands.

Blue Forest recognizes that the project occurs upon  the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary homelands of the Kumeyaay Peoples, who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial. The Tierrasanta Wildfire Resilience Project will treat a total of approximately 60 acres in areas of Shepard and Rueda Canyons that are within the City of San Diego’s Brush Management Zone 2 — which typically comprises vegetation between 35 and 100 feet from structures. Through fuels reduction treatments such as removal of hazardous, dead, or dying trees; removal of vegetation to create defensible space; and maintenance of previously established fuel breaks, the project will help safeguard thousands of lives, properties, and infrastructure. It will also support the training and development of the restoration workforce and increase community fire resilience understanding through direct outreach and engagement with residents.