Green Scene

East County News Service

March 18, 2025 (Rancho San Diego) – The controversial Cottonwood San Mine proposal is slated to be heard by the County Planning Commission in April, more than six years after it was first proposed.  Thousands of residents have signed petitions  and packed public meetings to oppose the project based on significant environmental, health and safety concerns, and community impacts such as traffic and potentially decreased property values.

Tonight, the Valle de Oro Community Planning Group will meet at 7 p.m. to finalize a recommendation to the County. This important  meeting will be held in the Rancho San Diego Library,11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon 92019.

The project would allow at least 10 years of open pit mining on the site of the Cottonwood Golf Course along the Sweetwater River, just upstream from a federal wildlife preserve. The develop, New West Investment, contends the project is needed to supply sand for local building and infrastructure projects, avoiding the cost of importing sand.

The Stop Cottonwood Sand Mine Committee will present its opposition to the project during the meeting. The Committee is expressing continued concerns that a Major Use Permit for a more than 10-year open pit sand mining operation — on the site of the Cottonwood Golf Course along the Sweetwater River — is out of character with the already established Rancho San Diego community, made up of nearby homes, schools, and businesses. The project is also inconsistent with the County General Plan and Community Specific Plan.

The Committee has urged those opposed to show up and express their opposition to the Planning Commission. 

New West Investment and investor Michael Schlesinger purchased Cottonwood Golf Course in 2015, four years after the golf course filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As originally filed, the proposal is to mine 4.7 million cubic yards with approximately 3.8 million cubic yards (5.7 million tons) of construction aggregate produced over ten years, in phases with reclamation planned after each phase. Approximately 214.4 acres of the approximately 280-acre site are proposed for extractive use. The project application was filed in November 2018.

By Leorah Gavidor

March 13, 2025 (Campo) -- When Urban Timber partners Jessica Van Arsdale and Dan Herbst learned they had just a few months to move their well-established tree salvage business, the couple had to scramble to find a place to move hundreds of tons of logs that they had saved from the landfill. The company that saves trees from urban displacement was itself facing displacement. After a few weeks of major stress and uncertainty, Urban Timber found its rural salvation in East County.

Van Arsdale and Herbst found a 13-acre piece of land listed for sale in Campo, and then they found real estate agent Carol Snyder. She championed the purchase knowing Urban Timber’s plans for the property were to bring new business and new energy to the town. The vision is to build community in Campo, with resources, materials, and tools on site for artists and woodworkers to design and build projects using salvaged wood from around San Diego County.

“Each time I get to visit I'm amazed at the progress Dan has made in the shop and the outbuildings. Dan is one of a few true craftsmen left in this world. Jessica, with her hard work and artistic finesse has transformed the house into a cozy, welcoming home … you can be assured this property will be a showplace in a short time,” said Snyder.

In its previous location, Urban Timber transformed a blighted piece of land on Bay Boulevard in Chula Vista into a hub for an artistic and sustainable-minded community where trees came to be upcycled and people came to turn imagination into reality. Through partnerships with the city, word of mouth, and a network of tree-lovers, the business amassed a beautiful collection of logs that would have otherwise gone to the woodchipper but instead were turned into custom furniture, shelving, siding, benches, sculptures, and even a one-of-a-kind Fender guitar called the “Timbercaster.”

“We are so thankful to be here in Campo,” Van Arsdale said. “It feels like our future came and got us, and took us here, to a place we can stay and call home, and retire someday.”

But retirement is way off for the couple, who have big plans for their new home. Now that all the wood has been transported from Chula Vista to Campo—a feat that took two weeks, five 38-foot dump trucks, and several 48-foot flatbeds—Herbst said they will “put down good roots and branch out.”

“Maybe we can have demonstrations, tours, info sessions, workshops, art classes. We want to host landscape architects, designers, builders. Soon we’ll create a living catalogue of our landscape design materials. We want to put all this material and space to use,” said Van Arsdale.

There’s redwood from Balboa Park, bunya-bunya from UCSD, various eucalyptus that had to be cut down due to age or development, and much more. Herbst is also looking forward to the opportunity to use wood from fallen oaks, which he couldn’t use while in the city: oak can’t be transported due to spread of oak borer beetles. He had heard of oak removals around the county but had not been able to salvage them. Now he can collect local fallen oaks and dry them in his kiln to kill the bugs before using the wood.

For now clients can visit Urban Timber by invitation; eventually the wood catalogue will be organized in a more shop-ready format, or possibly showcased locally in partnership with Campo businesses, so customers can see what’s available. With kilns and mills on site, logs can be dried, cut, and fashioned for various purposes. Lumber and cut pieces are also still for sale at Urban Timber’s separate woodshop location on Industrial Boulevard in Chula Vista, where the business will continue to maintain a presence as it transitions to home-based in Campo.

Van Arsdale is especially excited about forging partnerships with local businesses and organizations. Liberty Rising Healing Sanctuary of Boulevard came to the property to set the right vibe for moving in, and Rose Acre Farms was also on the welcoming committee. They’ve met their neighbor who keeps a donkey and rides his horse to visit friends, and befriended staff at East County Lumber and Feed.

“We want to do this in a considerate way,” said Dan. “We’re not coming here with deep pockets and a splashy mansion. We want to stay in rhythm with nature. The first step in permaculture is observation.”

As Urban Timber gets its footing in Campo, Van Arsdale and Herbst see the business as an integral part of the town’s economy.

“But I think we’ll need a new name,” Van Arsdale said. “Not-So-Urban Timber?”

Former national park worker speaks out on Trump renaming tallest U.S. peak

By Walt Meyer

March 2, 2025 (San Diego) -- Because I worked in Denali National Park during the summer of 2024, lately people have asked me about the naming of Mount McKinley. I talked about this in one of the lectures I gave at the Denali Education Center.

I spent that entire summer in Alaska, visiting five of its eight national parks, including Gates of the Arctic, far north of the Arctic Circle, and I learned a great deal about the 49^th state and its indigenous people.

Prior to my extended stay up north, for some reason, I had thought that Mount McKinley was renamed for the 25^th president after he was shot, just as after John F. Kennedy was assassinated many post offices, schools, and even an airport were renamed for him. If that had been the case, taking away the name of Denali might have been a little more forgivable.

But that was not the case with Mount McKinley. Denali was renamed for William McKinley before that governor of Ohio was even president. In 1896, some gold miners from Ohio who were trying to strike it rich in Alaska (along with thousands of others from all over the world), had the brilliant idea to rename the biggest mountain they had seen for McKinley who was then running for the Republican nomination for president.

In addition to wanting to support a fellow Ohioan, they had another motive: money. McKinley was running on the gold standard and these miners reasoned that if he was successful in taking the White House, and the US dollar was to be backed by gold, the government would have to buy up tons of the precious metal and that would drive up the price of gold and make them all rich.

The locals, even the white men who climbed it in the coming decades, still referred to it as Denali, which in the Athabascan language of the local indigenous peoples, meant “the big one” or “the tall one” or “the great one.” The name Mount McKinley was only used by “outsiders” as people from the lower 48 were called by the “Sourdoughs,” the people who came to Alaska to stay.

When the boundaries of Mount McKinley were vastly enlarged under the terms of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, the indigenous people were given a seat at the table, which had been a rare thing in the US government’s treatment of native peoples. Among the things the tribes asked for was the restoration of some of their hunting rights in the expanded park and the restoration of their name for the highest mountain in North America. The National Park Service agreed and changed the name of the park to Denali National Park.

But the tall peak itself was under the purview of the US Geological Survey which is in charge of place names. Anytime the government hinted at changing the name, they were met with a mountain of resistance, primarily from the Ohio congressional delegation who did not want their home state’s martyred president stripped of his namesake mount.

Any president who tried to rename the mountain risked losing the key state of Ohio in the next election, so the park was Denali, but the mountain stayed McKinley for over two and a half decades, when President Barack Obama, as he was nearing the end of his second term, signed an executive order restoring the name. He waited until his term was almost over so he would not have to deal with the fallout for long. Alaska rejoiced. Ohio pouted.

When people would ask me why they “renamed” the mountain to Denali, I would politely correct them and say that the name of Denali was restored, not renamed. It had been Denali for millennia until some Ohio gold miners renamed it as a political stunt.

William McKinley never set foot in Alaska and never saw the mountain, so it makes more sense for it to have its ancient name, a name that means something. 

Walt Meyer is a San Diego-based author who has worked at multiple national parks. 

The views in this editorial reflect the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.

East County News Service

March 1, 2025 (Mt. Helix) --  Mt. Helix Park invites you to Nature Day atop Mt. Helix on March 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This event will feature live animals, a butterfly release, booths from over 30 nature organizations, activities, crafts and a native plant sale.

Shuttles for the public are available (free) from Grossmont High School. 

https://www.mthelixpark.org/