{"id":244563,"date":"2025-09-21T19:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244563\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T19:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T19:24:13","slug":"mt-helix-park-now-95-native-plants-thanks-to-local-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244563\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt. Helix Park now 95% native plants, thanks to local volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Habitat restoration sign at Mt. Helix Park. (Photo courtesy Sophia Sleap\/Times of San Diego) Credit: Sophia Sleap<\/p>\n

Since 2012, a volunteer-led effort has restored Mt. Helix Park<\/a> to nearly all native plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing the mountain come back alive,\u201d said Caroline Harrod, a member of the Habitat Restoration Committee at Mt. Helix Park<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The habitat restoration process, which is now at 95% native plants, has increased biodiversity, supported the environment, and created a beautiful place where people find peace and create memories together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saved the mountain that was really just dying,\u201d said Harrod, describing how the mountain was powdery dirt years ago. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve turned it around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was only with the help of dedicated volunteers over a 13-year period. Beginning in 2012, Harrod joined the board of directors at Mt. Helix Park and pushed for a new policy to only have native plants there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She has devoted the past 13 years to establishing healthy, growing plants at Mt. Helix, and spearheaded a group of volunteers who are also passionate about native plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get a group of people who get it, and understand the importance of native plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrod said the number of people joining the native plant movement is growing, as more people recognize its benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why native plants?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only do native plants require less water than their non-native counterparts, they also increase biodiversity, making landscapes more resilient and fire resistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krista Powers, executive director of Mt. Helix Park, said that the habitat restoration process has brought back important pollinators to the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a pollinator extinction crisis right now because we don\u2019t have enough native plants,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Powers explained that native butterflies will only lay eggs on certain native plants, and if there aren\u2019t enough of those plants the species will go extinct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to create these pollinator pathways from Dictionary Hill to Cowles Mountain so that all these little pollinators can eat and survive along the way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Harrod shared that as a result of restoring Mt. Helix to native plants, butterfly species have returned to the mountain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot more,\u201d said Harrod. \u201cYou can see the butterflies come to the top of the mountain to find a mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powers added that a common weed, the yellow-flowered mustard, was a problem for many years on the mountain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a matchstick for wildfires,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The process of getting rid of invasive weeds took the group three to five years, as the seeds continue to germinate after being removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we slowly start winning,\u201d Powers said. \u201cAll the native plants start coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Non-native plants break down the important fungal systems underground that enable native plants to survive the climate. They also go into dormancy during the hot summer months, and a healthy fungal system allows them to retain enough water to survive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMother Nature is amazing,\u201d said Harrod.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating connections\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to take time out of your busy day, turn off Netflix, and get your feet in the soil,\u201d said Harrod.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what the approximately 300 people who visit the park each day seek to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEither they\u2019re walking, or they\u2019re going up and praying,\u201d said Harrod. \u201cIt\u2019s just so good for their soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powers has one other staff member and a team of volunteers who work hard to ensure the private park remains free for all visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll see giant families bring their picnic up here and get to create those memories without having to open their wallet up,\u201d said Powers. <\/p>\n

She said that enjoys watching people come up to the mountain and bond with one another in nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause in today\u2019s world, we have so much separation,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A volunteer-led effort<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bruce McIntyre, chair of the Habitat Restoration Committee, first got involved by volunteering at a work day, where volunteers come to help with habitat restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McIntyre and his wife adopted a section of the park through the Adopt-A-Habitat initiative, where volunteers steward and restore an assigned section of the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe advantage of working on this process so diligently over the last 10 years is that a lot of the weeds are under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the weeds contained, the team has been able to reduce the work days from monthly to quarterly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur volunteers are the heartbeat of our park,\u201d said Powers. \u201cWe could not do it without our volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting involved\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next phase of restoration is planting a pollinator garden. Volunteers are invited to help at the next work day on Saturday, Nov. 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make a butterfly garden so that we have the right plants to promote the monarch butterflies,\u201d said McIntyre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the circle of life, and it\u2019s wonderful\u201d said Harrod. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here at Mt. Helix.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more information about Mt. Helix Park programs, visit the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To learn more about native plants and educational videos on how to do native habitat restoration in your own backyard, visit Caroline Harrod\u2019s YouTube channel, Growing San Diego<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Habitat restoration sign at Mt. Helix Park. (Photo courtesy Sophia Sleap\/Times of San Diego) Credit: Sophia Sleap Since…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":244564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,91309,10506,130227,51184,26922,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,25235,38983],"class_list":{"0":"post-244563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-habitat-restoration","12":"tag-la-mesa","13":"tag-mt-helix-park","14":"tag-native-plants","15":"tag-plants","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa","24":"tag-volunteer","25":"tag-volunteers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115243926592954957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}