Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve getting ranger station

Visitors of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve will have a new ranger station to stop at when seeking information.

The City of San Diego held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning for the Los Peñasquitos/Black Mountain Ranger Station, a 1,100 square foot pre-fabricated building at 12001 Black Mountain Road, next to the equestrian center.

The project, estimated to cost a little over $2 million, is being paid for with city funding plus a $360,000 donation from the Black Mountain Citizens’ Advisory Committee, according to Mónica Muñoz, senior public information officer with the city’s Public Works - Engineering Department.

The station will serve as a permanent facility for the preserve’s rangers, who have been working out of a temporary trailer.

“The staff will provide information to the public, there will be an interpretive panel and information kiosk,” Muñoz said. “(It will have) information about the preserve and open space parks in the region and the plant and animal life found there.”

Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve is an open space park adjacent to Rancho Peñasquitos and just south of Ted Williams Parkway (State Route 56). It covers more than 4,000 acres and has 37 miles of multi-use trails. The rangers also serve those visiting the nearby Black Mountain Open Space Park, which is between Rancho Peñasquitos and 4S Ranch. It offers another 16 miles of trails over its 1,000-plus acres of city-owned land.

Those two areas plus additional nearby park spaces have a combined 12,000 acres and together get around 50,000 visitors annually, Muñoz said.

The ranger station will be a 1,100-square-foot ranch style, single story building with four offices for the rangers, a reception area, an information kiosk, an interpretive panel, a horse hitching post and bike rack, Muñoz said. The landscaping will feature drought-tolerant native plants.

Construction is to start soon; it is tentatively set for completion by early this fall, Muñoz said.