![\"juniper](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/juniper-canyon.jpg\" "\\"juniper")
<\/a> Find some blue birds of happiness in Juniper Canyon.<\/p>\nI saw several in this open space preserve in South Park. I think they were Western Scrub Jays, but they were so elusive it was hard to determine. Whatever their name, when you see their bright blue wings soaring through the air, it\u2019s a simple thrill of nature.<\/p>\n
Much like Juniper Canyon itself.<\/p>\n
Its main trail offers an easy walk through stands of Scrub Oak and the fragrant Yerba Santa. The coastal sage scrub habitat here is home to the endangered bird called the California Gnatcatcher, which can sometimes be heard making its distinctive \u201ckitten meowing\u201d call during spring\/summer nesting season, according to the city\u2019s Open Space Canyons and Parklands Web site.<\/p>\n
Reach Juniper Canyon\u2019s main trail head at the intersection of Nutmeg and Felton streets, several blocks east of 30th Street. This trail goes through the canyon until Juniper Street, then starts again on the other side of Juniper, ending a bit past Hawthorne Street. Find a good trail map at the city\u2019s park and rec Web site: http:\/\/www.sandiego.gov\/park-and-recreation\/pdf\/junipertrailmap.pdf.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another disconnected piece of Juniper Canyon farther to the south. A couple of trails begin from the dead-end of Ash Street and Delevan Drive, according to the city\u2019s trail map. I found these trailheads by taking Fern Street south to C Street, turning left on C going east, curving ahead until that street dead-ends (it turns into Delevan and Ash, but those aren\u2019t actually marked). You pass by an industrial area and you are immediately west of I-15.<\/p>\n
Back in the main section off Felton, it took me about 45 minutes to walk the entire length round-trip, crossing Juniper Street in the middle. It\u2019s a very pleasant walk through a natural space in the middle of the city.<\/p>\n
Wes Hudson, who has lived on the canyon for about 10 years, is one of the organizers of Friends of Juniper Canyon, a volunteer group that helps restore and preserve the canyon. Friends of Juniper Canyon is part of the San Diego Canyonlands organization that exists to protect and preserve our city\u2019s open-space canyons.<\/p>\n
Eric Bowlby, executive director of San Diego Canyonlands, helped guide the new friends group when it started. \u201cWe got together about two years ago because we were concerned about things going on in the canyon that were degrading it,\u201d said Hudson, who by day is a native garden designer. \u201cMostly we try to help preserve the native habitat that exists there. There are areas where native habitat is not pristine, but is remarkably intact for something so close to a city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends of Juniper Canyon, like other friends groups of local canyons, organizes trash clean-up, removal of invasive non-native plants, and replanting of native plants. \u201cWe\u2019re replanting scrub oaks, lemonadeberry, buckwheat, laurel sumac, manzanita, Coast Live Oak trees. These are all things that exist in the canyon already, but we\u2019re trying to help it return where this habitat has been destroyed,\u201d said Hudson. The little flags by the new plantings alert people not to destroy these fledglings. \u201cWe\u2019ve replanted two areas so far,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The group also has tried to remove arundo. \u201cIt looks like bamboo — it\u2019s incredibly tall grass that takes over waterways and crowds out all kinds of native plants, but doesn\u2019t contribute anything to the birds, insects and other animals there,\u201d Hudson pointed out.<\/p>\n
Friends of Juniper Canyon meet every third Saturday of the month, 8 to 11 a.m., at the canyon trailhead of Nutmeg and Felton. \u201cSometimes five people meet, sometimes 25 if there are volunteers from the city,\u201d Hudson said. Juniper Canyon Restoration is among many volunteer opportunities listed at Volunteer San Diego (www.volunteersandiego.org).<\/p>\n
Hudson said he\u2019s heard coyotes a lot lately. \u201cThey were gone for a while, but they\u2019ve come back. It\u2019s actually exciting to have them around.\u201d They will, however, go after cats and small dogs, so keep your loved pets in check. Dogs are allowed in the canyon only on leashes.<\/p>\n
When asked what he loves about Juniper Canyon, Hudson gave a very personal response. \u201cIt has to do with meaning,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you understand how connected everything is in the habitat, how much it depends on everything else; when you see invasive plants or bad policies diminishing variety and connectedness there, they\u2019re taking away meaning. Parts of this canyon look the same as they did hundreds of years ago. It\u2019s worth preserving. It helps us feel something deeper about the area when you have native habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when you add those bright blue wings in the air, it\u2019s hard not to feel happy in Juniper Canyon.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HABITAT RESTORATION CALLS TO FRIENDS IN JUNIPER CANYON By Priscilla Lister Find some blue birds of happiness in Juniper Canyon. I saw several in this open space preserve in South Park. I think they were Western Scrub Jays, but they were so elusive it was hard to determine. Whatever their name, when you see their […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":242930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Friends of Juniper Canyon Restores Native Habitat","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}