This deserted avocado grove in Escondido could be a gateway to science education

The hilltop off Mountain Meadow Road in North Escondido looks like countless other deserted orchards in northern San Diego County, with ramshackle structures in withered avocado groves.

Members of the Escondido Creek Conservancy, however, see a sanctuary from urban sprawl, a clear route for wildlife passage and a future science education center. They’ve secured $6.8 million to purchase 693 acres east of Interstate 15 known as the Mountain Gate property. It’s a key piece of the conservancy’s plan to assemble large areas of protected open space through the Escondido Creek watershed.

“One of the reasons why we’re interested in this is the large landscape,” said Ann Van Leer, executive director of the conservancy.

“From a wildlife perspective, we know it’s very important to have big areas where big animals can roam,” she said. “We know we have mountain lions here. We have found their footprints. You can see if you’re a bobcat, you can get through here pretty easily. But we’re trying to secure it so that 50 to 100 years from now, a bobcat can still get through.”

On ridges off of Mountain Meadow Road, between I-15 and North Broadway, the land includes a mix of chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitat, with coast live oaks and rare Engelmann oaks. Amid that are slivers of riparian wetland where willows and sycamores cling to seasonal streams. The granite boulders dotting the site have their own micro-climates and attract lizards, Van Leer said.

The site is one of two the conservancy is eyeing for conservation. The other is the 282-acre John Henry Ranch, near Lake Wohlford. Other recent additions to its patchwork of conservation land include El Cielo in Elfin Forest near Escondido, and Bottle Peak, east of Escondido.

Formed in 1991, the conservancy is a nonprofit land trust that has worked to preserve undeveloped land, with the goal of restoring and preserving open space in the watershed, from Lake Wohlford to San Elijo Lagoon. The nonprofit often joins local partners to make the purchases; this time, it teamed up with San Diego County and the U.S. Navy to buy the parcel.

For the county, the purchase would provide open space required for its Multiple Species Conservation Program, a regional plan to conserve habitat for sensitive plants and animals, according to a county staff report. The county has already bought nearly 21,000 acres of open space in southern San Diego County, and is seeking properties in the eastern and northern parts of the county, said Jessica Geiszler, marketing and public outreach manager for the county Parks and Recreation Department.

“The goal is to create the largest urban and suburban preserve in the county, creating corridors for more than 85 native plant and animal species,” Geiszler said. “With that comes the goal of trying to promote safe development in less sensitive habitats.”

When the sale is finalized, the county will evaluate the habitat and wildlife, as well as existing trails and roads, to decide which areas may be open to the public.

“We want to always find a way to get people to use and appreciate parks,” she said. “But we certainly want to make sure we’re not interrupting anything that’s happening in the natural world out there.”

The Navy, in turn, would get environmental mitigation credits to offset habitat damage caused by training maneuvers on Camp Pendleton. Its role in the purchase falls under the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, which alleviates restrictions on training operations at the base by securing conservation easements elsewhere, according to a statement from Carl Redding, communications director for the Marine base.

“There are 19 endangered species on Camp Pendleton,” Redding said. “We manage them while providing the training areas needed to prepare Marines to accomplish their mission. The REPI program, and the support of organizations like the Escondido Creek Conservatory, make it possible to be good stewards of the environment while accomplishing our mission to prepare Marines to deploy.”

The Navy’s contribution toward the purchase is $3.675 million, the county’s is $2.899 million, and the conservancy will pay $225,675. The nonprofit has raised $196,642 through 457 separate donations, ranging from $3 from an individual to $54,070 from Friends of Daley Ranch, and continues to raise funds for the purchase, Van Leer said.

Although it’s kicking in the smallest amount, the conservancy is coordinating the acquisition through a complex land transaction that will deed the land first to the nonprofit and then to the county, with conditions attached to prevent development. The conservancy will also manage the property and retain ownership of 23 acres of the most degraded land.

Here, atop the ridgeline, rows of desiccated avocado trees surround several agricultural structures where workers used to plant, pick and pack the produce. Many trees are limbed down to the trunks, but a few still produce stunted fruit, even without irrigation. In the remnants of a packing shed, a cracked slab of concrete lies under part of a corrugated steel roof. It’s next to a nearly drained agricultural pond, filled with a few inches of murky water.

This is where the conservancy hopes to establish an environmental education center, but there’s a lot of work ahead, Van Leer acknowledged. The organization is just starting to evaluate the site to find out what’s there and what needs to be done. The structures must be repaired or removed, along with any underground fuel tanks. The parched avocado trees pose a fire hazard, so they’ll have to clear those out.

Once the site is clean and safe, the conservancy intends to open it to middle and high school students for research projects. For instance, Van Leer said, classes could do soil testing, investigate reptile communities around boulders, or draw transects to study native plant growth.

“It’s about as degraded as it could be,” she said of the land. “So you get to see it reborn over time.”

The San Diego Board of Supervisors tentatively approved the purchase, and will finalize that vote on Sept. 12. Conservancy officials hope to close escrow on the property by the end of September.

“This is more complicated than anything the conservancy has done,” Van Leer said. “But when a big property is available for conservation, you buy. ... It comes with its own baggage, and we’ll have to sort through it. But it could be pretty darn cool.”

Brennan writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.