Story and main photo by Karen Pearlman
May 17, 2026 (Mount Helix) — A barren stretch of dirt outside the front office of Mt. Helix Park Foundation near the top of Mount Helix has become a colorful and welcoming spot for butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, towhees and other visitors to the area.
Thanks to financial backing from the family of Suzanne Chambers — the former CFO at Otay Water District and volunteer at the Water Conservation Garden — the foundation was able to purchase things that would bring the improvements. Mt. Helix Park Foundation leaders enlisted volunteers who planted flowers for pollinators, installed fencing and picnic tables, and added bird feeders to the spot.
The garden is an area Mt. Helix Park Foundation Executive Director Krista Powers imagined for years as a space that could bring people together and add a vibrant sanctuary of color, life and memory.
The new space is more than just an aesthetic upgrade for the historic 14-acre park. It is a fully accessible outdoor community hub and a living tribute to a woman whose name is synonymous with East County environmental conservation.
“(Board member) Bruce McIntyre, Mary (Quirk-Kirk, event and development coordinator), and I have been busy running operations here, but I have wanted this specific project to happen for seven years,” Powers said at a May 15 ribbon cutting of the garden.
“I wanted to make a special place right here at our front office where volunteers could sit, where visitors could sit, and where we could talk and hold meetings outside. I’ve been staring at this blank space for so long, so it is incredibly exciting that this dream was finally able to come true.”
Honoring a champion of conservation
The transformation of the area was made possible through a $2,500 family legacy gift from the Chambers Family Trust, donated in honor of Suzanne Chambers, who passed away earlier this year, and was an important figure in East County’s environmental and civic landscape.
After moving to the region in 1976, she spent five decades championing the preservation of local natural beauty. She was a passionate advocate for the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College, which showcases ways to embrace sustainable, water-wise landscaping. She was also a founding board member of the Rancho San Diego Friends of the Library and participated in the Over the Hill Gang Car Club.
Chambers’ daughter, Marsi Haney, who grew close with Powers through their shared years of leadership within the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce, saw a perfect alignment between her mother’s lifelong passion and the park’s needs.
“When my mom passed away, we reviewed her history and saw how consistently she had been giving contributions throughout the years,” Haney explained. “I called Krista up and asked, ‘What can we do that could really make a difference and memorialize mom?’ When she told me they were thinking about a butterfly garden, I knew with my mom’s deep connection to the Water Conservation Garden that this was right up her alley.”
The connection is palpable for Haney, who spent decades watching her mother marvel at the local landscape.
“She lived here for 50 years, and she would always say, ‘Why would anybody leave this place?'” Haney recalled. “She was a massive supporter of the area. My mom loved La Mesa, and she loved Mount Helix.”
Water-wise landscaping
While the vast majority of Mt. Helix Park consists of untouched, native habitat that relies solely on natural rainfall, the new pollinator garden is now one of three exceptions. The garden now joins the park’s kiosk area and the area around the cross at the top of the site as areas that will need need extra attention and watering, Powers said.
Before any planting could begin, crews overhauled the site’s infrastructure, laying down a brand-new irrigation system to sustain the incoming flora. The park’s habitat team then went to work, introducing native, butterfly-and-hummingbird-friendly plants — including a heavy concentration of milkweed, a big draw for monarch butterflies.
The immediate area has already seen an influx of wildlife, to the point where keeping up with the local demand has become somewhat of a personal routine for Haney.
“The bird feeders go down so fast I’ve started carrying a bag of seed in my car just for the towhees,” Haney said.
Powered by collaborative efforts
While the legacy gift provided the financial backbone, the physical construction of the garden required months of collaboration. The project kicked off with a foundational donation from Jim and Ann Porter, which allowed park board member Bruce McIntyre to begin spearheading the physical labor.
McIntyre worked side-by-side for months with dedicated youth interns from Bostonia Global charter school in El Cajon and other volunteers (see photo courtesy of Mt. Helix Foundation, lower right).
“They worked tirelessly,” Powers said, noting that the internship provided invaluable life and trade skills for the students. “They were handling split-rail fencing, operating jackhammers — neat stuff came out of this project and it made a difference for these kids.”
The youth effort was bolstered by an array of local volunteer teams who spent weekends moving dirt, securing boundaries and planting.
Key contributors credited by the park include Charles and Patti Turkle, Helgi Gudmundson, Mt. Helix Foundation board member Jason Kardos, the La Mesa scouts of Troop 319, and Bishop Robbins alongside his service team.
Accessibility, healing at the summit
One of the most critical elements of the design was making the dirt slope’s pathways compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“They made it completely ADA accessible so that someone in a wheelchair or with disabilities can roll right up to the new picnic tables,” Haney said.
For Haney, the garden has already served as a place of profound personal peace.
“I’ve been up here several times in the wee hours of the morning,” she said. “I’ll park down by the fire station, walk up, and be the very first person on the mountain. I have sat right here in this garden and just cried. This is just a place my mom would have really loved. She loved to be in the garden, and who can beat the view up here? It’s amazing.”
The park welcomes volunteers who wish to help maintain and weed the space, ensuring that Chambers’ passion for conservation continues to blossom.
One Response
Wildlife environments, including the ever decreasing Monarch butterfly numbers are much needed in many cities due to the encroachment of humans. Parks are a wonderful place to observe and photograph the beauty of nature’s bounty. Take a moment to observe the quiet beauty and decompress…