Harris Rekon Valley Center

Harris Rekon in Valley Center, in my opinion, was one the best trips our class has taken all semester. Just the whole vibe of actually going out to a site, and planting native, indigenous, plants and making a difference in the community and the environment was a great feeling. The trip started out with the meeting of the "OG", original group, Matt, Carrie, Amanda, and of course Zane. We all piled into Carrie's rockin Explorer and we were off. We drove past yet again, another all you can eat buffet, with a hint of gambling cassinos and to what looked like an elementary school. To our surprise there was alot of students and researchers already at the location and the planner provided food , water, and shovels. We all seperated into groups and we were off to start planting and plaving the future for this trail area. We found that the various plants, and trees, needed certain amounts of distance and spacing, but be close enough to the watering system for not to up root on the trail or kill off the surrounding plants around it. I haven't personally worked on a project like this in years, since my Eagle Scout Project, and it was great to know that I was making a difference and that in a couple of years, I would be able to come back to this same location and know that I planted the vegetation in that area. I think one of the highlights of the trip was when Deborah took us out along the border of the Indian Reservation and we looked at all the other native plants that have been growing around the area. It is crazy to think that there are so many plants that are native grown in the area and have been living and growing around the area for hundreds of years now.