There are over 150 canyons throughout urban San Diego.

They provide urban dwellers with valuable open space that provides a range of benefits. They harbor incredible biodiversity. Their "green infrastructure" provides valuable ecosystem services, including work to clean and filter our urban runoff, as well as mitigating the urban heat island effect to cool our city. They also provide an escape to nature from an otherwise completely paved and urbanized environment. Development around these areas has left a legacy of neglect and degradation. These precious open spaces are in dire need of enhancements, including safe and enjoyable access (physical and/or visual), wetland and upland habitat restoration, and taking advantage of the opportunities to integrate this natural space into the fabric of our urban environment. That's the aim of Canyon Enhancement Planning.

After the adoption of the City of San Diego General Plan in 2008 (the objectives of which call for the protection and enhancement of San Diego's canyons, including linking them together into an open space system that is integrated into the fabric of our built environment), San Diego Canyonlands (SDCL) established a committee of urban design visionaries, professional landscape architects, and others to create a Canyon Enhancement Planning Program for community stakeholders, to help implement this vision. The CEP Program and the associated CEP Guide is helping to facilitate a systems approach for implementing a regional vision that weaves our natural open spaces with the fabric of the urban environment, to gain progress towards opportunities like visual and physical canyon access, restoration, preservation, environment-based education and ecologically sensitive recreation. See the CEP Brochure for more information. 

SEE BELOW - SDCL is implementing Canyon Enhancement Planning canyon-by-canyon, and working to protect City open space through dedication, to transform this incredible vision into the San Diego Canyonlands Regional Park. Click here for a summary of CEP steps. 

Basic Process (Applied Canyon-by-Canyon)

Pilot Project Area (Began 2009) | City Heights Canyons Loop Trail

 

City Heights Canyons Loop Trail   |   Download Map   |   View  Map Online

In 2009, SDCL began implementing CEP in City Heights, an under-served and park-deficient community in central San Diego. SDCL began with Manzanita Canyon as its pilot canyon, and - using a set of Existing Conditions Maps (see below) - held a series of five stakeholder planning workshops. On February 10, 2011 the stakeholders finalized their Manzanita Canyon Enhancement Plan (see below). Progress was quickly made on several of the Enhancement Plan's projects, including USFWS funding for wetland restoration and a refurbished connector trail between Azalea Park and the south end of the canyon (formerly a dead end), completed with the help from Urban Corps volunteers and KTU&A Landscape Architect John Holloway.

CEP in City Heights continued through 2012 as SDCL completed Enhancement Plans for nearby Hollywood, Swan and 47th Street Canyons (see below). This successful community planning helped SDCL obtain a $365,000 State "Urban Greening" grant to implement the loop trail (see above) and other enhancement projects identified during the CEP process. A larger goal for City Heights Canyons is the creation of a loop trail that connects four City Heights Canyons.  See above or click to view/download PDF map or view online map showing the canyon trails (black) and "canyon corridors" (red) that will connect four City Heights canyons to one another as part of the implementation of the CEP plans. SDCL anticipates the City Heights loop trail will expand to include Chollas Creek to the southeast, and has obtained 2013 funding to host community stakeholder workshops and produce a canyon enhancement plan for the creek area running between Federal Blvd and 54th Street ("Oak Park Branch" of Chollas Creek).

CHCCA Canyon Work Tracker (Updated Approx. Monthly)

Progress & Status By Canyon

Download a Summary Table of CEP Progress & Funding Status (updated periodically)

New Project Areas (Beginning 2013)

Shepherd Canyon  |  Tierrasanta   CEP STATUS: Stewardship growing, mapping underway (expected in July). Map - Canyon Area Targeted for CEP

	Tecolote Canyon (Kelly Park Area)  |  Linda Vista   CEP STATUS: Stewardship growing, mapping tentatively scheduled summer 2013.  Map - Canyon Area Targeted for CEP  Map - Current City Trail Map
	Navajo Canyon  |  Navajo (Allied Gardens)     CEP STATUS: Stewardship growing.  Map - Current City Trail Map
	Into the future: Canyon Enhancement Planning could be applied to  over 150 urban canyons throughout San Diego!

Many thanks to our project funders: