Lakeside's River Park Conservancy

Lakeside's River Park Conservancy was founded in 2001 to restore 100 acres of exhausted sand mine back into viable riparian habitat.  

Our mission today is to protect the biological integrity of the San Diego River while providing recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities for the community. Our work includes urban conservation, trail building and maintenance, wetland restoration, fire and flood prevention, planting native species and the control of invasive species.  We are in the process of building the San Diego River Science Field Station for students, teachers, and environmental scientists to have opportunities to learn, teach, and experiment at the river park.

"Who Goes There?"

One project supported by San Diego Gives donations is our plan to create new ways to discover and document wildlife that lives on river park property. Right after the river park was established, staff saw a gradual progression of creatures moving in: insects, lizards, snakes, birds, small mammals, and occasionally larger ones. We have fish in the ponds that we did not put there, whose eggs most likely were transferred from wetland to wetland by migrating birds.  We are inspired to ask, who lives here now?

We plan to install critter-cams and set up a user-friendly system to identify species, record sightings by trail users and citizen scientists, and prepare images and data to share with everyone.

NEW This Year - Double Your Impact - We Have Matching Funds!

In addition to the prizes offered by San Diego Gives, this year Lakeside's River Park Conservancy has generous champions who will match $3,500 in donations dollar-for-dollar.  We are a 501-c-3 non-profit organization, so a gift to us is tax-deductible and plays a vital role in helping us do our work.

We hope to see you out on the trail!