At the second cleanup event at Pacific View School in Encinitas, held September 17, a crew of 29 Encinitas Arts Culture and Ecology Alliance volunteers shoveled, scraped, and hauled dirt in order to install erosion control straw wattles on the northwest corner of the school property. The straw wattles will keep the bare soil surrounding the school in place until drought-tolerant Southern California natives can be planted to enhance Pacific View and the surrounding downtown Encinitas neighborhood. 

EACEA's mission is to revitalize the school and its property, closed since 2003, and reopen the campus as community arts and ecology center. Learn more at http://www.eacea.org

The next volunteer work party is scheduled for October 22. Join us! For more information contact CPA Executive Director Joy Lyndes, who leads EACEA's landscape committee, at joylyndes@cparksalliance.org  Photos courtesy of Steve Barilotti. ​

This week San Diego opened its first wheelchair-accessible hiking trail. Located in the Black Mountain Open Space Park, the flat, wide trail makes a scenic quarter-mile loop. Made of decomposed granite the trail welcomes anyone who may have difficultly negotiating traditional hiking trail terrain.  

CPA Executive Director Joy Lyndes applauds this addition to San Diego's park system. Lyndes, a Landscape Architect, received the Common Ground Award for Innovation in Architecture award for her firm's work on the Feliz Paseos Universal Accessibility Park in Tuscon, Arizona. 

"Intentional design for users of all ages and mobility levels is what makes a healthy lifestyle universally accessible," Lyndes said. 

The trail, officially known as the Jas Arnold Trail For All People, includes four shade structures and interpretive signage. Learn more about Arnold, who posthumouly received the 10News Leadership Award for his key role in the trail's creation, at  http://www.10news.com/lifestyle/leadership 

​Find details on San Diego's new fully ADA accessible trail at www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/trail-for-all-people