Dictionary Hill Open Space Advocates

05/26/2026

This first of our Summer Talks is happening June 6th. Mark your calendars for this fun, interactive and informative talk. Free ice cream and kids program. Bring a chair!

05/18/2026

Our first Summer Talk is coming up June 6th 5.45 pm at the foot of South Barcelona St.
The talk is about back yard pollinators.
Free icecream and an activity for children!

05/15/2026

Dictionary Hill Coastal Cactus Wren. Images and most common call. (Apologies for the unsteady video)

05/13/2026

Fountain Grass was commonly planted as an ornamental and is now a feral invasive grass that is a dangerous fuel for wildfires. Second, it is an aggressive w**d that has displaced native plants and taken over habitat from the coast to the desert in San Diego County. It a fire hazard and a scourge on Dictionary Hill and is displacing our rarest plants by living year round, in cracks and crevices on Dictionary Hill. Hopefully the community can remove it from their gardens so its seed dont fly into the preserve where efforts are being made to contain and eventually, remove it.

In southern Arizona, the Catalina Highway up Mount Lemmon used to be lined with tall, feathery clumps of an ornamental grass that swayed photogenically in the wind. Tucson nurseries sold it by the flat.

Phoenix golf resorts planted it across hundreds of acres. Southern Nevada landscapers used it from Las Vegas casinos to commercial parking lots. Then the wildfires started behaving differently.

Fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum, now reclassified as Cenchrus setaceus) is native to East Africa, the Middle East, and southwest Asia.

It was introduced to the U.S. as an ornamental and was extensively planted along desert highways, in resort landscaping, and in commercial xeriscapes from the 1960s through the early 2000s.

It produces enormous quantities of wind-dispersed seed. It established quickly along roadsides. It moved up canyon slopes that even buffelgrass couldn't reach. And it carries fire hotter and faster than any native desert vegetation evolved to endure.

Native saguaro, ocotillo, palo verde, and the rich understory plants that depend on them have no co-evolved relationship with intense, fast-moving grass fires. Where fountain grass takes over, native desert burns at temperatures it didn't evolve to survive — and the same grass returns thicker after the fire, while the natives don't come back at all.

Nevada has fountain grass on its state noxious w**d list, which prohibits its sale and cultivation. The Southern Nevada Water Authority's Water Smart Landscapes Program excludes it from any approved plant list. Clark County restricts it.

Native and water-wise alternatives — agave, prickly pear, yucca, deer grass, Indian ricegrass, sand dropseed, several Sporobolus species — provide the same architectural texture without the fire risk or invasive spread.

Established fountain grass is being systematically removed from commercial landscaping, with crews replacing it with native desert scrub plantings that can actually coexist with the ecosystem they sit inside.

The story of fountain grass is the story of a lot of ornamentals: imported because it looked good, planted at industrial scale before anyone studied what it would do, and now requiring decades of expensive removal to undo. The native plants that should have been there the whole time are finally getting the ground back.

04/25/2026

Perfect weather for the Spring Walk. Still some wild flowers in bloom. Check out the improvements on the top!

04/25/2026

Remember.. Spring Walk today. Be st the Buena Vista entrance at 9.45!

Join us for the annual Spring Walk, Saturday April 25th. We meet at 9.45 at the Buena Vista entrance.
Check out the improvements at the peak, and learn about the new trails which are in process of being created.
Learn about the flora and fauna on the hill.
There will be several different leaders, and activity levels, including activity for children.
Wear good shoes, sun screen, and hat. Bring water to drink. Hiking poles are a good idea.
Please leave dogs home on this hike.
Look forward to seeing you all there!

04/24/2026

We welcome you to the Spring Walk on Saturday morning.
We will meet at the Buena Vista area at 9.45.
There will be an activity for the children.
As we might see some wildlife, we ask for people to leave their dogs at home on this hike.

04/21/2026

Dictionary Hill is the home to rare Coastal Cactus Wrens (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus sandiegensis). This has been documented by SDNHM, and USFWS since the early 2000's. Since that time these birds have been heard and seen foraging in the preserve. They are not yet nesting and protected in the Dictionary Hill Open Space Preserve but many are working to restore the preserve with local cactus, which is the only known suitable habitat for these rare Cactus Wrens. These photos are of hyper local Cactus Wrens, within .25 miles of the preserve boundary. This Northwest slope locality seems to attract Cactus Wrens seeking new territory or just foraging when there has been some winter rain. These photos are from a Cactus Wren that "popped up" early 4-21-26. Nearby were Cholla, defensible space on the ground, and a dead Agave stalk to perch on, and Elderberry (important food and perching habitat) about 30 feet away. The loud chatter, which is quite welcome, has been constant for about 5 hours. (if you are seeing them in Spring Valley, take a phone photo and or record them and upload with iNat) All local data is valuable data.

04/19/2026

Join us for the annual Spring Walk, Saturday April 25th. We meet at 9.45 at the Buena Vista entrance.
Check out the improvements at the peak, and learn about the new trails which are in process of being created.
Learn about the flora and fauna on the hill.
There will be several different leaders, and activity levels, including activity for children.
Wear good shoes, sun screen, and hat. Bring water to drink. Hiking poles are a good idea.
Please leave dogs home on this hike.
Look forward to seeing you all there!

01/01/2026

A few intrepid hikers came on the New Year's Day Walk To The Top.
Spectacular view of clouds at the top. The kids had great fun splashing in the puddles.Several of us ended our hike at Gladly's Coffee shop in Casa De Oro.
Great way to start the New Year!