Stories

On March 15, Solana Beach Eco Club successfully completed an important project at San Dieguito County Park. About a year ago, Head Park Ranger Alejandro Santos approached the club with a request to transform a small, unused area of the park into a native pollinator garden. The club embraced the idea enthusiastically and began planning for a fall planting.

Our field trip to Rose Creek took place on an incredibly beautiful, warm, sunny winter morning – the kind of day that makes the rest of America a little jealous. We were accompanied by pedestrians and bikers going by, kayakers in the water, amazing birds flying overhead. The perfect conditions only emphasized the phenomenal beauty of Rose Creek and the need to protect it. This tour was well timed for other reasons. We had just had speakers Karin Zirk (Friends of Rose Creek in December) and Andrew Meyer (ReWild Mission Bay/ San Diego Bird Alliance in January) visit and talk to our club about the past, present and future of this very important area. There are also an extraordinary variety of birds migrating through the area this time of year as part of the Pacific Flyway. Evidently, the birds enjoy our weather too. 

The Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club is proud to be participating in the "100 PROJECT, 100 COUNTRIES PROJECT" as part of the 2026 Environmental Xperience at EarthX. Presented in partnership with CNN’s Call to Earth, this global showcase highlights inspiring, community driven initiatives from around the world.

Our first project is presented by our very own Co-President, Jenny Parker. SMRT Gardens are innovative street-side and parking lot gardens designed to manage stormwater by channeling runoff from streets directly into retention basins. One of these SMRT Gardens has been created at San Dieguito County Park in Del Mar, CA. Read more about how these gardens are being used to build community partnerships and protect the urban landscape.

 

The San Diego Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego County, distributing over 50 million pounds of food annually to about 400,000 people each month through 450+ nonprofit partners.

ProduceGood's mission is to build an informed and engaged community committed to finding sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger, reclaim and repurpose waste and promote the health and well-being of all. Our Eco Rotary Club strongly supports this mission any way we can!

The Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club organized a virtual Eco-Talk with students of the BCK Programs, which is focused on providing environmental education to students.

A very instructive evening! We learned about the science of plastic and how it is impacting climate change and our environment. 

Our speaker, Shea O'Keefe is a biologist working for the Department of Agriculture.

Eco Rotarians Cleanup!

Eco Rotarians volunteering at the Ocean Knoll Farm on Saturday 1/18.  We completed raised planter beds and installed irrigation. Berry bushes were planted along with a crop of new peas.

We'll be honoring MLK Day of Service at the Ocean Knoll Educational Farm. All are welcomed to join! More details here. 

Team 'ECOtarians' attended the October 26th, 2013 Bocce-Golf Tournament sponsored by the Mission Bay Rotary Club.  The fund raiser was held to support the Polio Plus and Wounded Warrior charities.  Under overcast skies, the team representing the Solana Beach ECO Rotary Club (Lynn Stevens, grandson Zach 'Ringer' Stevens, guest David Gotcha, guest Jon Berger and Bret Vonder Reith) won first place of Rotary Clubs represented (fourth overall I believe out of 16 teams).  In addition to the trophy received (which will forever have our name engraved on it) we received 1000 Paul Harris points to be distributed as we see fit.  Great job guys!  We had a lot of fun.

We supported the Surfrider Foundation (www.surfriderfoundation.org) on Saturday October 12th at their annual Tijuana River Mouth Cleanup event.  Well over 200 people showed up at Border Field State Park (Dairy Mart Rd exit on I-5.  Head SW and it runs into Monument Rd.  Follow to the Park.).  Lots of trash was collected (rugs, plastic, trash misc., etc.).  Afterwards the group was treated to lunch at Monument Park located right on the International border.  A very beautiful location if you ever want to spend the day outside.  See the pictures below.

Thursday evening's program was presented by 10 year old 'Fracktivist' Sienna and her backup (:-)) Peg Mitchell.  The presentation was compelling as well as informative with suggestions of what you can do to voice your opinion to our State representatives regarding this controversial, environmentally invasive oil and gas extraction method.

Thursday October 3rd, 2013 commemorated the honoring of Healthy Day Partners (www.healthydaypartners.org) and their work creating and making of a successful operation, the farm at Ocean Knoll Elementary School (Encinitas Union School District).  On hand to officially open the farm with a ceremonial ribbon cutting were County Supervisor Dave Roberts, Encinitas Mayor Teresa Barth, Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer, City Council Member Tony Kranz, School Board member Marla Stritch and Ocean Knoll School Principal Angelica Lopez, along with many other dignitaries.  The Ocean Knoll Farm embraces the County's new ten year initiative to promote its 'Live Healthy' program.

Solana Beach ECO Rotary Club members Mim Michelove and Camille Sowinski, as founders of Healthy Day Partners and the Ocean Knoll Farm, received proclamations from the School District praising their devotion and vigor in supporting this very important 'Live Healthy' education program.

After a rousing round of applause from all present, the Microloans for Mothers Board members (from left to right, Dave Peiser - President, Niels Lund - Founder, Verne Scholl - Board Financier) gave a moving presentation of the success that their program is having.  Not only are they enabling mothers both locally (San Diego) and Internationally (Cambodia) to enhance their lives through business opportunity, the organization has recognized and implemented lifestyle improvements to the families in their program through improved sanitation contributions.  This is an organization that is making it happen (www.MicroloansForMothers.Org)!

Welcome to our Rotary Club! 

Our first service project of Rotary Year 2014/15 was with the San Dieguito River Park and what a way to start our year! On a Sunday afternoon in August our club met with Park Ranger Felipe from the San Diego River Park to assist with trailhead maintenance off of San Andres and Via de La Valle. As Eco Rotarians (Ecotarians) we love playing outside while working to maintain the beautiful natural resources of our community. We removed invasive species, removed trash, and gave the native plants a trim to keep the trailhead welcoming for park visitors.

Felipe, the Park Ranger tasked with keep us busy, was wonderful. His knowledge and passion for the San Dieguito River Park and his job were inspirational. To boot he was a professional and friendly young man. Our club greatly enjoyed getting our hands dirty and meeting Felipe at this service project.
To learn more about the San Dieguito River Park and all the valuable work it does visit www.sdrp.org.

We have more photos showing the great time we had with Felipe at the San Andres trailhead on our Facebook page, Solana Beach Eco Rotary Club.

In July our club switched it up and instead of meeting at our regular spot (the lovely Santa Fe Montessori School) we ventured to "The Ranch." An old Ecke property in Encinitas, The Ranch is described by the Leichtag Foundation as "a nexus between community and cultural life."

We toured the various meeting rooms, green houses, and scenic open spaces of The Ranch and learned about the Leichtag Foundation's ambition to create a place to build community and connect people to food, the land, and social justice.

Our club was impressed by the hard work the Leichtag Foundation has put into making this parcel of land a beautiful ad valuable community resource.

To find out more about the Leichtag Foundation and its efforts at The Ranch visit www.leichtag.org.

Katie Hawkes provided inspiration to our weekly 6/26/14 meeting outlining their (www.imagine-more.org:  Imagine More is a San Diego, California-based nonprofit consultancy dedicated to environmental education, youth empowerment and sustainability in communities.) current program which is being presented to the World Design Capital forum in Cape Town, South Africa.  Great grass roots program focused on youth education and inspiration of sustainability education and real project implementation.  Katie is going to make a mark.

Eco Rotarians worked on the Ocean Knoll Farm Saturday morning.  We installed an owl box that President Bret Vonder Reith built.  Ken Yoder and Bret climbed down into the canyon and hoisted the box into a majestic Torrey Pine tree.   

We hope a nice family of Barn Owls will make this their home and help rid the farm of squirrels and gophers.

Saturday February 15th the Solana Beach ECOtarians congregated to support the 'Lagoon Platoon's (www.saneljjo.org)  effort to restore native species to the San Elijo Lagoon eco-systems.  Thanks to Linda Jones, PHd, who is a Director with the Conservancy, and Nick Regoli who is an Associate Biologist with the Conservancy for their efforts to restore this very important ECO-System to retain its health.  Bret Vonder Reith (President, Solana Beach ECO Rotary Club) pitches in.  Very pleased to see the plants planted in October are doing well!  We planted more and watered what was there, something the Conservancy does every

two weeks.  A HUGE effort.  Great job San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy!

Thank you so much for your participation in California Coastal Cleanup Day and your dedication to cleaning and restoring our waterways.

It was great to have such a solid group of Rotarians at that event.

I was shocked to see the large piles of ice plant that Dick, Lynn, and Bret helped pull out. What a workout! And I was horrified at the grand total of 365 cigarette butts that Pat, Joe, James, and I picked up off the ground.

You guys were positive and a pleasure to get down and dirty with to cleanup our community.

Cheers to many more service projects together,

(Photos by Lynn Stevens.  Thanks Lynn!)

The Eco Rotary Club Solana Beach met at the Santa Carina trailhead at San Elijo Lagoon.  David Varner, Resource Management Director for San Elijo Lagoon conducted a very informative tour of the South East section of San Elijo Lagoon.  We learned about two active resoration projects focused on rebuilding the biodiversity and natural habitats for residents of the lagoon.

David, gives us an overview of the lagoon at the trailhead.

One of the restoration projects.

Club Secretary, Lynn Stevens, gazes out over the lagoon.

Club President Bret Vonder Rieth, Lynn Stevens and Dick Stevens head back to the trailhead with David Varner.

With over forty Rotarians and guests attending our Charter Celebration on May 23rd, 2013, a great time was had by all!  The event was held at Clair's on Cedros Ave. in Solana Beach.  The food and atmosphere were outstanding.  Official Charter status was received from Rotary International on 20 February, 2013.

Distinguished guests included former Distirict Governors Dave Breeding, John Goodrich and Larry Sundram, Ass't D.G.s Ole Prahm and Janice Kurth (D.G. Elect 2015/16), D.G. Elect Louise Andres (2014/15) and current D.G. Dick Stevens.  Janice, Larry and Dick gave words of encouragement to our growing Club.  Thanks also to local Club Presidents Gretchen Mitchell (Elect - Encinitas Tues AM), Pat Dougherty (Elect - Del Mar) and Merv Miller (Encinitas Wed Noon) for their support!

The Eco Rotarians and friends building a Bottle School building in Guatemala!

Rotarians from five Coastal Rotary Clubs spent five hours working at the Ocean Knoll Farm.  An information kiosk was built, the foundation for a 20' X 40' stage was completed, a chicken coop was readied, irrigation for planter beds were installed, verticle planter beds were assembled and compost bins completed.  A very successful day of Rotarians in action and demonstrating "Service Above Self."