Our community deserves to breathe clean air!

The Spring Valley Cleanup Crew was founded in 2020 to directly resolve environmental justice issues facing the Spring Valley community. Initially, we solely cleaned up specific areas where large buildups of trash existed. In doing so we quickly realized that our cause necessitated greater actions. We have since expanded our efforts to include food and supply distribution to people without homes, voter registration drives, school supply drives, collaborations with local activist groups, and political advocacy.

We, the Spring Valley Cleanup Crew, have a strong presence at Spring Valley’s Climate Action Plan meetings, Parks and Recreation Meetings, Community Town Halls, and Planning Group meetings where we advocate for our community’s health, safety, and well being. In doing so, we were successful in adding “Plant more trees in parks” to the county’s 21-22 PLDO Project Lists. 

Spring Valley is one of four county recognized environmental justice communities. A hallmark of these communities is an insufficient tree canopy. This reality poses a variety of issues for our neighbors. 

The county has only planted 47 of the 550 trees needed in our parks by May of 2022 to comply with the county’s CAP goals. 

Trees filter the air around us. Spring Valley is nestled in the corner of two major highways. Due to our shrinking urban canopy the amount of pollution we receive is higher than in other areas of the county. 

Spring Valley had higher rates of ER visits for asthma than 66 percent of census tracts across the state, putting those tracts among the highest third. 

Areas of Spring Valley are also subject to intense flooding due to the geography of the area. When you couple that with being the most populous and dense environmental justice communities you get a potential infrastructure disaster. Trees function as excellent rain water repositories. The roots capture and filter rainwater runoff and prevent flooding and hazardous materials making their way to the oceans.

Spring Valley is also one of the hottest places in the county. As climate change worsens, this heat is only going to rise. If there were a larger tree canopy, not only would sufficient shade be provided across the community, but it would help to lower the overall heat of the area. Since Spring Valley has a sizable homeless population, expanding our urban canopy would ensure our unhoused neighbors are not subjected to the threat of heat strokes. 

We are asking San Diego County Parks and Recreation to plant enough trees to make Spring Valley’s Parks comply with the county’s CAP goals.