Wright's Field
Dubbed the "jewel of the community," Wright's Field lies in the heart of Alpine, a mere 25 minute drive from downtown San Diego. The 400-acre preserve area boasts crisscrossing trails with six overlapping ecosystems (5 of them are endangered). With a view of El Capitan and Viejas Mountains, the Preserve is a scenic place for quiet respite, field study, or active exercise.
Hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers enjoy Wright's Field for its easy to moderate trails, spectacular scenery, and diverse habitats.
Coastal sage scrub, vernal pools, Engelmann oak woodland, Riparian areas, and California Native Grassland occur onsite, along with Chaparral. The biodiversity within the Preserve area is high as is the quality of the native grassland. Wright's Field provides a critical corridor between MSCP lands to the west and the Cleveland National Forest to the east and south. San Diego County is an international "hot spot" for biodiversity, with Wright's Field serving as a microcosm for many of San Diego's ecosystems.
The Preserve is home to a growing number of plant species (Current list boasts more than 300 and continues to grow with the San Diego Natural History Museum's Plant Atlas Project) and more than 100 Species of Birds (tracked by the San Diego Audubon Society).
Recently, biologist Michael Klein, with help from students from Joan McQueen Middle School, compiled a comprehensive invertebrate list of more than 140 insects, spiders and centipedes and crustaceans. The list will expand as more are identified. Download the Wright's Field Open Space Preserve
Invertebrate Compendium (
29 KB) today.
Cultural resources remain onsite and are intended to serve as educational tools for the community. Adobe foundations, dams, and the Spanish-Colonial Rock Wall are all within the Preserve area and will be studied and incorporated into BCLT's long-term management plan. See below for a fascinating, informative article on Traditional Native American Plant Use at Wright's Field. Many of the plants found in Wright's Field were used for a multitude of purposes by the early inhabitants. You can download a list of these plants (including both their scientific and common names) and their purposes here. (PDF document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - free download)
The Back Country Land Trust owns 230 acres of an almost 400 acre nature preserve. On the 230 acres that we currently own, we lead nature walks, coordinate with local schools for educational use, restore habitat and repair trails for the public. The BCLT hopes to secure more acreage that contains all five habitats existing in the Preserve. To access the current acreage, please park at Joan McQueen Middle School, 2001 Tavern Road, and walk through the staff parking lot on the north side of the school to access the field.
Traditional Native American Plant Use at Wright's Field
Susan M. Hector, Ph.D.
A botanical study of Wright's Field conducted by Jeannie Gregory of the San Diego Natural History Museum demonstrated the rich biodiversity present in the grasslands, hillsides, and riparian areas. The diverse plant life is mirrored by the numerous archaeological sites present around the edges of the grasslands. These sites are characterized by milling features, which are depressions made in the natural bedrock by Native Americans to process plants and animals. Most people are familiar with the bedrock mortars, or morteros. These circular, deep holes were used to crack acorns before they were ground into meal and flour. While the sites associated with Wrights Field contain a few mortars, most of the milling features present around the grasslands are shallow basins and slicks, which were used for other purposes besides processing acorns.
Basins and slicks are the most efficient way to lightly grind small seeds. While the use of the acorn by Native Americans is widely known by nearly everyone, there has been limited recognition of the importance of seeds to their diet. Seeds could be gathered in large numbers by moving a basket through the ripened plants. They were then ground, and cooked or eaten uncooked. The reason that seeds have not received a lot of attention as a major food source is because most of these small plants, many of which are annuals, no longer grow in the quantity or diversity they did even 100 years ago. A notable exception is Wright's Field, where this diversity has been preserved.
Table 1 (in PDF document on Wright's Field Ethnobotany) is an analysis of the plants that have been identified at Wright's Field. I used a variety of ethnographic sources for the Kumeyaay and other California Indians to create this table. Notice the large number of species that were used as food sources, particularly for seeds. The presence of a large number of basin grinding stones in the preserve reflects the number of plant species used as a source for edible seeds.
In addition to the large number of plant species used as food by Native Americans living at and visiting Wright's Field, many plants were used as medicine. Medicinal plants were processed to cure fevers and colds, heal sores and wounds, ease childbirth, get rid of dandruff, and treat common miseries like headaches and stomache aches. Some of these plants are toxic, and traditional knowledge was necessary to know exactly which plant parts to use and how to prepare them.
Plants growing at Wright's Field were also used to make baskets, textiles, and cordage. Deergrass, rush, and basketbush were used to create tightly stitched and beautifully decorated coil baskets for an infinite number of uses, as well as to make twined seed beaters. Other plants were used to make arrows and tools, supply building materials and adhesives, and as cleansers.
All of these plants were managed by the Native Americans. It has been demonstrated by Kat Anderson and others that seasonal burning, pruning, and transplanting were methods used throughout California by native groups to control and support desired plant species. For example, several plants with edible bulbs grow at Wright's Field. These were propagated and transplanted so that large numbers could be harvested and roasted in rock-lined earthen ovens.
Today, what we see is a relic of a managed landscape perhaps many thousands of years old. The traditional Native American use of Wright's Field is visible to us not only as the archaeological sites abundantly present around the grasslands, but as a diverse, rich habitat—one of the few remaining in San Diego county.