Management

Eric Bowlby |  Executive Director

Eric Bowlby is the Executive Director of San Diego Canyonlands. Bowlby served as chair of the Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter Executive Committee in 1999 and 2000 and subsequently built the chapter’s Canyons Campaign, serving as its coordinator for eight years. In 2007, Sunset Magazine called Bowlby the “Paul Revere of San Diego Canyons”. He is an appointed member of the City of San Diego Open Space/Canyons Advisory Committee. In February 2008, he helped found SD Canyonlands and he was a founding member of Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek. Email: eric@sdcanyonlands.org.

Will Anderson  |  Programs Manager

Will Anderson was hired as the Programs Manager for San Diego Canyonlands in May 2011.  He brings his unique background in law, education, Geography, and watershed conservation to SDCL’s many programs.  He earned a Master's degree in Geography from SDSU in 2009, after working as a graduate research assistant on watershed conservation projects in Ecuador and Tijuana.  After graduating, he began work for SDCL as a volunteer GIS mapping intern on its City Open Space Dedication project.  He then spent much of 2010 working in Ecuador as a Policy Analyst and GIS Specialist.  After returning to San Diego in late 2010, he began serving as a member of SDCL’s CEP Committee and was hired as a consultant to recruit, train, and manage interns in the GIS mapping of existing canyon conditions in City Heights.  Email: will@sdcanyonlands.org.

Ecological Restoration Staff

Fredericka Arthur | Field Supervisor - Ecological Restoration Crew

Fredricka (Freddy) Arthur began working with San Diego Canyonlands in August 2011 as an Ecological Restoration Associate.   As a former volunteer with Cuyamaca State Park’s trail maintenance unit, she hopes to contribute those trail skills to City Heights canyons and build her knowledge of canyon biodiversity. While living in South Carolina, Freddy spent five years as a professional lepidopterist (butterfly expert) breeding over twenty species of Eastern U.S. butterflies and moths. She’s looking forward to studying the native butterfly species and their relationships with the canyon vegetation.

Calvin Brown | Ecological Restoration Associate (Full-Time)

Calvin Brown has lived in City Heights for 30 years and attended Hoover High School. He’s done community service for price charities for eight years. He especially enjoys sports, including football and basketball.  He’s now working for San Diego Canyonlands as a full-time Ecological Restoration Associate and looks forward to learning more about City Heights’ canyons.

Mike Hancock | Ecological Restoration Associate

Mike Hancock joined San Diego Canyonlands in September, 2011.  He has lived in the Azalea Park neighborhood of City Heights since early 2000 where the friendly and welcoming nature of his neighbors inspired him to get involved in community events such as canyon clean-ups.  Mike is employed as a news reporter with a strong interest in "community-oriented" stories and is taking classes at City College to further polish his skills.  Mike also has a passion for music which he expresses through his work as a DJ at community events.  Mike plans to use the opportunity as an Ecological Restoration Associate to better understand the importance of canyon restoration and to help spread that message to City Heights residents.

Saul Jimenez | Ecological Restoration Associate (Full-Time)

Saul Jimenez began work for San Diego Canyonlands on June 2011 as a full-time Ecological Restoration Associate. He’s also working towards a degree in Administration of Justice. His goal is to become a police officer and will pursue his goal of becoming a S.W.A.T. team member. Since working with San Diego Canyonlands, he has enjoyed learning about the plants and wildlife which has given him a new perspective of City Heights’ canyons.

Maseray Kamara | Ecological Restoration Associate (Full-Time)

Maseray Kamara joined San Diego Canyonlands in September, 2011.  She was born in the country of Sierra Leone and moved to California in 2001.  While attending Hoover High School she was active in sports as a member of the basketball team. She also loves to cook and enjoys the outdoors here in San Diego.  Maseray would like to continue her education, studying Early Child Development, with a career working with children, possibly with an environmental focus.  She takes pride in her work, and is enjoying everything she is learning while working in the canyons.

Jose Mendoza | Ecological Restoration Associate

Jose began working as an Ecological Restoration Associate for SDCL in early March of 2011.  He began working while attending  Hoover High School, and will enter San Diego State University this Fall 2011 on scholarship.  As a freshman he began to volunteer for SDCL, served as president of the Eco Club and earned countywide recognition for his work in the Canyons as a Cox Conserves Heroes finalist.  He brings the experience he developed through four years of helping the City Heights neighborhood through community service.  Jose has worked and volunteered at the City Heights Farmers Market, Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, and the California Endowment Project.  He enjoys restoring the four canyons in City Heights by leading volunteer work crews and maintaining already restored canyon areas.  When he's not in the canyons, Jose is studying or playing football.

Arturo Olguin | Ecological Restoration Associate (Full-Time)

Arturo recently graduated from Hoover High School and joined San Diego Canyonlands in September 2011 as a full-time Ecological Restoration Associate.  He is studying administrative justice and wants to become a police officer one day. He’s interested in restoring and learning about native vegetation in the canyons, and helping with the movement to preserve the canyons in his home neighborhood of City Heights and all throughout San Diego.

GIS Mapping Staff

Robert Chau  |  GIS Mapping Technician

Robert Chau was hired in early 2011 as a GIS Mapping Technician for San Diego Canyonlands. He graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 2010, and is currently a full-time undergraduate student at San Diego State University majoring in Geography with an emphasis in GIS. His interest in GIS - and Geography generally - was sparked when he was young by his parents, who put large atlases all around the house. He gained fieldwork experience in high school mapping invasive plants in Navajo Canyon alongside Park Ranger Jason Allen. After growing up in City Heights, Robert has always loved the outdoors, and particularly loves hiking in places near Chollas Lake.

David George  |  Restoration Ecologist / GIS Mapping Technician

In early 2011, Dave George began an internship with San Diego Canyonlands and work as an Environmental Restoration Associate.  He is a full-time student of Ornamental Horticulture at Cuyamaca College, specializing in Sustainable Urban Landscaping after a fourteen-year career as an information technologist, something he left to follow his passion for the natural world.  Dave is currently working with San Diego Canyonlands to help restore several canyons in City Heights as part of the City Heights Canyons Team and – after graduation - hopes to continue his education and focus on ecology and habitat restoration. When he's not running up and down canyons, removing invasive vegetation or planting native plants, he's an avid hiker and sea kayaker.

Interns

Tim Fraher  |  GIS Mapping Technician Intern

Tim Fraher began an internship with San Diego Canyonlands as a GIS Mapping Technician in early 2011, and recently completed his internship with the GIS field team, after mapping the existing conditions of Swan Canyon in City Heights. He is a student of San Diego State University's School of Professional Studies, majoring in Public Administration with a focus in Environmental Studies. He also acts for San Diego Coastkeeper as Boating Community Outreach Coordinator, Skipper, and Water Quality Compliance Coordinator, where he monitors its Copper-Bottom Paint Mitigation and Pump-Out Monitoring programs. As he's said before, his goal is "to create a sustainable urban environment that will benefit everyone, not only in the short term, but for future generations as well."

Nikolas Kennedy  |  Canyon Enhancement Planning Intern

Nikolas Kennedy began working with SDCL in Fall 2011, focusing on Canyon Enhancement Planning and defining the future San Diego Regional Canyonlands Park.  He is also working with the Open Space Division of the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department to foster communication and promote public support of SDCL’s efforts.  Nikolas is finishing up his graduate studies at San Diego State University and will graduate in Spring 2012 with a Masters in City Planning and an emphasis in Environmental Policy and Resource Conservation. He enjoys hiking, running, landscape design, and blogging through his organization, the San Diego Green Business Group.

Sean Losee  |  GIS Mapping Technician Intern

Sean Losee is a senior at San Diego State University working towards a Bachelor’s degree in Geography with an emphasis in Methods of Geographical Analysis.  He also works as a full-time Cage Supervisor at the Barona Resort and Casino.  He previously served in the United States Army, first as a Combat Engineer and then later as a Military Police Investigator where he completed tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. Sean has a strong affinity for the outdoors and wants to help ensure that future generations of San Diegans will always have wild undeveloped areas to explore, just as he enjoyed them as a child.

Katie Smith  |  Canyon Enhancement Planning Intern

Katie Smith is a senior at San Diego State University, where majors in Geography with an emphasis in Environmental Policy and Natural Resources.  She is interested in protecting the biodiversity and enhancing the open spaces of the San Diego region, and wants to raise awareness of the importance of these issues.  These interests originated from spending a good deal of time outdoors and traveling the country before moving to San Diego from the east coast.  She is assisting with the development of the Canyon Enhancement Planning (CEP) Guide, which will serve as a tool to stakeholders to cut time, cost and red tape for comprehensive canyon-enhancement plans and for implementing individual canyon projects.

Joseph Tilseth  |  Canyon Enhancement Planning Intern

Joseph Tilseth is a senior at San Diego State University, majoring in International Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR) with an emphasis in Environmental Security. He is currently serving on active duty in the United States Marine Corps and is in his senior year in the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Program (MECEP). Upon graduation in May of 2012, he will commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He grew up in Wisconsin on an 80-acre hobby farm and has always had a deep connection with and appreciation for being outdoors. As an intern with San Diego Canyonlands, he is assisting its Park Dedication program to preserve over 10,000 acres of City-owned land as dedicated open space, a program aimed at helping protect the region's remaining biodiversity and the valuable watershed services these areas provide, and to preserve the land as open space for future generations of San Diegans.

Leah Bremer  |  Program Leader, KIPP-Adelante Program (Florida Canyon)

Leah Bremer works with San Diego Canyonlands as the Program Leader for the KIPP-Adelante educational stewardship program in Florida Canyon, an environmental education and restoration program run jointly through SD Canyonlands, Outdoor Outreach, REI, and KIPP-Adelante Preparatory Academy. She is in her final year of the Joint Doctoral Program in Geography at SDSU and UC Santa Barbara, where her research focuses on compensation for ecosystem services programs in highland Andean grasslands (páramos) in Ecuador. Prior to her current graduate work, she worked in a variety of positions related to youth development, environmental education, and conservation biology in California, Washington, Hawai’i, New Zealand, and Australia. Viewing environmental and social issues as inherently interconnected, she is excited to be a part of SD Canyonlands restoration and education efforts that mutually benefit ecosystems and human well-being. She also enjoys trail running, mountain biking, hiking, surfing, and native plants and animals.