The Tijuana River Valley Community Garden, known as the largest in San Diego County, is about to shutter due to a persistent environmental crisis. The Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County (RCDGSDC), which has managed the site for over two decades, informed tenants in late September that they must vacate within 60 days. The ongoing sewage pollution from the adjacent Tijuana River and related health risks, coupled with a history of flooding at the garden, led to this tough decision, as noted by KPBS.
The closure will displace many urban farmers and gardeners who have come to depend on the site not just for sustenance, but as a community haven. Gardeners like Bryan Rivera, who, together with his wife, has cultivated medicinal herbs and fruits on their quarter-acre plot, will find a new locale to continue their agrarian practices, an endeavor that is proving difficult, according to his statements to KPBS. Rivera reminisces about the distinctive aromatic pleasures of his garden, expressing the value it brings not just to humans but to the entire ecosystem.
According to a CBS8 report, the garden has provided a therapeutic landscape for individuals like Dennis Minnerly, who turned to gardening as a sanctuary after a heart attack and surgery. Similarly, Cecelio Salamanca, one of the original gardeners from the garden's inception, compares the loss of access to his plot to that of a fisherman losing his pier. These personal narratives exemplify the profound impact the garden's closure will likely have on its community of growers.
While the site's future remains uncertain, the County of San Diego stated that the next steps are yet to be determined. The county has not officially received notice from the RCDGSDC about the lease termination, but intends to explore transitional options for its tenants. The closure comes after recent moves such as posting warning signs about toxic gases in the valley, which features the community garden at its entrance, and a study that links water pollution to toxic gases near the site. This environmental study, funded after a vote by the county, aims to secure evidence for a potential Superfund designation, as County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer shared in a statement, per KPBS.
