Community, Recreation and Volunteer Opportunities

• The Friends of Rose Canyon provides interpretive hikes and advocacy focused on the preservation of Rose Canyon.
  
  
• The Friends of Rose Creek is a new group forming to help improve the health of lower Rose Creek in Eastern Pacific Beach. Contact Karin Zirk at 858-405-7503 or see http://www.saverosecreek.org/.
  
  
• The City of San Diego, Park and Recreation department’s Marian Bear Natural Park Recreation Council offers interpretive and recreational opportunities in city-owned Marian Bear Memorial Park. To volunteer or for more information, contact the tri-canyon Ranger office at (858) 581-9961.
  
  
• The City of San Diego, Park and Recreation department’s Rose Canyon Open Space Park Recreation Council offers a variety of educational, recreational and interpretive opportunities in the city-owned Rose Canyon Open Space Park. To volunteer or for more information, contact the Tri-canyon ranger office at (858) 581-996 .
  
  
• San Diego Earthworks , in addition to managing the Rose Creek Watershed Opportunities Assessment, annually organizes San Diego Earth Day, the Green Built Tour and other community-based conservation events. Volunteers are welcome at all events. Contact earthworks@earthdayweb.org.
  
  
• The San Diego Tracking Team has one transect in Rose Canyon where volunteers are recording the presence of various animal species. The Tracking Team would like add transects that cover the watershed and connecting from Mission Trails Park to the ocean. Additional volunteers are needed to expand the program; training is provided. Contact Gretchen Nell.
  
  
• The Sierra Club Canyons Campaign is organizing volunteer creek cleanups and other community events in the watershed. Contact Eric Bowlby or see their webpage.
  
  
• The Tri-Canyon Weed Warriors is a group of community volunteers dedicated to helping maintain the native vegetation in the city’s tri-canyons (Rose, Marian Bear and Tecolote). They hold weed warrior events to remove non-native exotic invasive species. To volunteer or for more information, contact the Tri-canyon Ranger office at (858) 581-9961.

Culture and History

• The Rose Canyon Recreation Council’s Railroad Trestle Project is an effort to preserve the 18802-era railroad trestle in Rose Canyon.
   
• The San Diego Archaeological Center has done extensive study of the archaeology of Rose Canyon.
   
• The San Diego Historical Society is a good source on the history of San Diego County.

Fire and Erosion Prevention and Fire Recovery

• The City of San Diego’s Fire Safety and Brush Management Safety Regulations can help residents protect their homes from wildfire. The Rose Creek Watershed is entirely within the City of San Diego.
   
• The County of San Diego’s Fire Recovery Information website has extensive information about area fire recovery efforts.
   
• The San Diego Fire Recovery Network is a network of community organizations, government agencies, and concerned citizens, many of whom are scientists, who have come together to address the widespread ecosystem changes in San Diego County caused by the historic fires of 2003.
   
• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Western Ecological Research Center has an excellent website with pictures and descriptions of San Diego County’s wildlife and ecology, including fire ecology.

Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP)

• The Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) is a region-wide habitat conservation planning program developed originally for southwestern San Diego County but later expanded to the entire county. The MSCP proposes to preserve a network of habitat and open space throughout the county. The City of San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program includes information about the city’s program.
   
• The County of San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program website covers the unincorporated area, providing extensive information about this region’s unique plants and animals. Click here to view the Fall 2004 issue of MSCP News.

Natural Resources

• Bird Friends of Lake Murray and San Diego County is an easy-to-navigate and user friendly site listing frequently seen birds in San Diego County. It includes photos and descriptions.
   
• A project of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Bird Atlas seeks to catalog all the birds found in San Diego County.
   
• CAL Alive is a good source of information about the vegetation of California, including Southern California, written in lay-terms.
   
• Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery , San Diego County’s only 100% native plant nursery has an easy-to-read website with pictures and descriptions of native California plants.
   
• The San Diego Mammal Atlas is a project of the San Diego Natural History Museum. There is not yet a dedicated website for the project but information can be found here.
   
• Another project of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Plant Atlas website contains valuable information about San Diego County plants.
   
• The San Diego Natural History Museum is a good general source on the natural history of San Diego County.
   
• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Western Ecological Research Center has an excellent website with pictures and descriptions of many of San Diego County’s wildlife (bats! snakes! bugs! are all here) species. It also includes a section on exotic invasive species and fire ecology.

Water

• Be Water Wise is a great site for information about water use and water conservation.
   
• Project Clean Water outlines the County of San Diego’s efforts to address water quality issues, especially storm drain pollution.
   
• Think Blue outlines the City of San Diego’s programs to address water quality issues, especially storm drain pollution.
  
• EPA's Watershed Discussion Board This forum offers watershed protection practitioners and citizens a platform to exchange ideas, so that innovative solutions and ideas can be easily shared in (near) real-time cyberspace. Discussion Item Titles: Community Involvement Smart Growth/Low Impact Development Source Water Protection Stormwater Best Management Practices Sustainable Financing Watershed Planning Tools

Wetlands

• The San Diego Wetlands Recovery Project is the San Diego branch of a statewide collaborative effort to improve the health of California’s wetlands. See www.scwrp.org/taskforce_sandiego.htm for information about the San Diego program.