Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Mission Trails sheds 60 tons of vegetation to reduce wildfire risk

nbcsandiego.com · 10h · first reportShare

Crews have removed 60 tons of invasive vegetation from Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego as part of an effort to reduce wildfire risk and restore native habitat. The vegetation removal project, which began in 2024, has cleared invasive and fire-prone plants from the 8,000-acre park. The work is funded by the San Diego River Conservancy with oversight from the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation. Margaret Thompson, a restoration analyst with RECON Environmental, said some non-native plants can act as fuel for fires. “This is Polypogon rabbit’s foot grass. It’s a non-native species that we see in the park that, again, like I was talking about, can create that kindling for fires.” Over two years, crews have filled 60 large roll-off containers with vegetation removed from the park. “We basically remove the biomass and put it into roll-off containers that are like 40 feet long huge roll-off containers,” Thompson said. The work is intended to reduce the amount of vegetation that