The Climate Science Alliance conducted a site visit with partners at Kendall Frost Reserve, within the UC San Diego Reserve System, to discuss collaborative efforts and various future initiatives.
On March 12, 2024, the team from the Climate Science Alliance and our partners at Tipey Joa and UC San Diego gathered on Kumeyaay Lands at Kendall Frost in Mission Bay. This site, part of the UC San Diego Reserve System, holds significant value for local wetland ecology. Construction is underway by UC San Diego to develop a space for fieldwork and educational events.
Elsa Cleland, a UC San Diego professor, along with several of her students, Kellie Uyeda, Executive Director of the UC Reserve System, and Martha Rodriguez, a Climate Science Alliance advisor from Tipey Joa participated in this first site visit.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss potential collaborative efforts and explore various opportunities. We envisioned the space as a venue for Stewardship Pathways, in-person meetings, and tribal access and stewardship initiatives, including marsh restoration projects. The site has beautiful lemonade berry shrubs, juncus, several types of sage bushes, prickly pear, and other plant relatives that are valuable to Kumeyaay people for food or medicine.
Coastlines are crucial to California's Indigenous tribes, as they are deeply tied to their culture, community, language, and ceremonies. These areas often contain ancestral villages, burial sites, and archaeological artifacts. With rising sea levels threatening ancestral homelands through flooding and inundation, it’s essential to recognize and honor these connections. Kendall Frost was a site stewarded by the Kumeyaay long before colonial influences.
