Planting time at Engel Family Preserve

FALLBROOK — Twenty-one willing tree planters put 250 young native plants into the ground in just over one hour at the Engel Family Preserve on Sunday, February 25.

“Another job well done,” enthused Jackie Heyneman of Save Our Forest (SOF) and Mike Peters, preserve manager for Fallbrook Land Conservancy (FLC).

Armed with shovels and gloves and fortified with coffee and cookies courtesy of Heidi Nelson, the volunteer crew assembled at FLC’s Palomares House and carpooled to the 10-acre Engel Family Preserve on Sumac Road, with its sweeping views of the I-15 corridor and the Monserate Mountain range east of Pala Mesa. The holes had been dug, the new water system installed and pots of native sugarbush and lemonade berry plants were lined up ready for planting.

The work was funded by FLC’s latest Partners for Fish and Wildlife Grant. Two representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kathleen Pollett and Samantha Marcum, pitched in to help.

Peters outlined the long-range plans for this open-space preserve, which was deeded to the Land Conservancy by the Engel Family. It was once an avocado grove and is gradually being replanted with native species, such as scrub oak, coastal live oak, sumac and sage, all of which are grown under the tender care of Howard Sansom in the SOF nursery.

“Grants such as this are cost-share grants,” Peters explained. “That means that every hour volunteers spend planting and caring for plants on our preserves helps pay our portion of the grant. That’s why it’s so important to have willing volunteers for our work parties.”

Over the next two months, SOF will plant new trees as part of a California Re-Leaf grant.