Chapter Meeting: Vernal Pool Restoration

Presenter: Dave Hogan

Founder, Chaparral Lands Conservancy

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Casa del Prado Rm 101, Balboa Park

6PM: Browsing and socializing

7PM: Presentation begins

Attendance is free and open to all

Vernal pools are one of California’s most endangered natural communities. Over 97% of California’s vernal pools have been destroyed by various impacts. The biodiversity found in these rare habitats is unique.

Our May speaker, David Hogan, has been an activist for the preservation of San Diego’s special biodiversity since the late 1980s when he began work as a teenager to protect what are now the Carmel Mountain and Del Mar Mesa preserves in the northern City of San Diego. He founded The Chaparral Lands Conservancy in 2009 to pursue proactive habitat restoration projects for the benefit of San Diego County’s rarest ecosystems and species with a focus on several critically endangered coastal plants and vernal pools.

David’s presentation will focus on the Conservancy’s Otay Mesa Vernal Pool Habitat Restoration Project, a three-phase project to restore vernal pools on a 17-acre City of San Diego preserve in western Otay Mesa where vernal pools were significantly damaged by years of off-road vehicle use prior to preservation by the City. Restoration of the first 5 acres in phase I was completed in 2022, phase II on the next 5 acres is underway, and phase III on the last 5 acres will begin this autumn.