Saving Deer Park Ridge
- Three young friends enjoying breakfast on Council Ridge rock face during a Family Retreat. (precious space, open possibility, spontaneous reflection)
Dear Friends of Deer Park Monastery,
Our community has been working steadfastly for some time to preserve the adjacent open lands and the miles of mountain ridge surrounding the monastery. We have looked to individuals as well as public organizations to help us to legally designate these lands as an open wildlife habitat, thus protecting them from development. Combined with the existing grounds of Deer Park Monastery, this project would preserve contiguous lands nestled in a secure valley for all the animals, plants, minerals, and the people that take refuge here – a sanctuary, as you know and may have experienced, for rest and healing.
Our ultimate goal in this is to safeguard our 800+ acre paradise for our children. And for our children’s children. It is unquestionably a worthy legacy that we can all leave to our descendants.
- Families enjoying morning breakfast on mountain over looking the city. Deer Park's valleys and mountain ridge will be the last of open space in the Escondido area. (development will stop at our borders)
We are now at a crucial point in this long process. Our neighbors, the owners of the land adjacent to the north and west that fronts and descends well into the Deer Park valley, are conditionally working with us and the environmental organizations to achieve this goal of protecting the land. We have also been working closely with the Escondido Creek Conservancy (TECC), the Friends of Daley Ranch, the City Council of Escondido, a San Diego County Supervisor, the Escondido Chamber of Citizens, and professional brokers and appraisers in the land conservancy field to fulfill our desire to protect the land from development.
This is not an unfounded dream. In the recent past agencies such as The County of San Diego Park and Recreations Department, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and The State of California Wildlife Conservation Board, have funded similar acquisition projects near Deer Park Monastery. We still need to complete habitat surveys, a Phase I HazMat Study, and finish work with a contracted federally qualified appraiser for mitigation projects such as this.
Fortunately, the owners to the west have not sold or developed the land to this point, and we have had sometime to investigate some avenues by which we can purchase it. TECC and our broker are putting a proposal together to attain funding from public sources that have established ear-marked funds for land conservation. All of us who have worked on this project over the last two years are hopeful and confident about the potential for success, but we know it remains a complex and difficult undertaking. Much more work, and the support of our entire community, will be required for its successful conclusion.
You should know that we have made great progress already. Examples are:
- The owners of the adjoining 220 acres to the west have not yet sold or developed the property, giving us a window of time to finish the project.
- A lay practitioner, working with Deer Park Monastery, has secured a legal option to buy the adjoining 88 acres at the top of the ridge. (This land has been commonly called “Helen’s Place” by our community, but historically has been known as “Council Springs” since Native American tribes used to hold inter-tribal counsels there). This practitioner has rights to buy the property at a reasonable price for another eighteen months. He is paying a monthly installment to keep this option valid, and is being supported by the Monastery and environmental organizations to do so.
- The most significant activist and environmental groups and individuals in San Diego County are working whole-heartedly with us in this project.
- We have engaged the services of regional professionals and volunteers bringing the greatest possible expertise to this type of endeavor.
- A friend, Joe Reilly, chants a traditional prayer on the rock tops of Council Ridge. (look close and see a baby near his heart)
We ask for your immediate help and prayers. This extraordinary project, now called “Saving Council Ridge,” started with a hike up the ridge during one of our Order of Interbeing retreats where everyone witnessed several areas of the ridge, with native chaparral bush, trees, and large rocks, bulldozed to make way for new construction. Everyone was shocked and came back from the hike very concerned, and many have expressed interest in helping to prevent the development. link: (maps and details)
We know that times are difficult financially right now, but if you could contribute in any way to funding the initial phase of this project, we and the greater Deer Park Sangha, would be grateful. We need to raise $25,000 for initial professional fees and perhaps $300,000 to secure a purchase agreement for the lands in question. The owners have asked us pay a substantial, nonrefundable earnest money deposit against the total $4,000,000 valuation to provide them some immediate revenue. It is important to note that the neighboring owners have shown much consideration and trust in their dealings with our communities over the years. However much your family can donate is appreciated. Let us know if any of you can give us a non-tax loan so that we may come up with the money promptly.
Please inform other Sangha members about this extraordinary
opportunity and need for us. To find out more about the project and how to
help, you may contact me at phapdung@dpmail.net
or by calling 760.470.6242.
Click to help DONATE
(All donations are tax deductible)
Most importantly, dear friends, please send us your energy of practice.
May the Earth Holder Bodhisattva protect us and the land, as we move forward on the quest.
May everyone be at ease and content, their smiles light and sincere.
With trust,
Brother Phap Dung
PS: Check out our (archival images of deer park) before it became Deer Park Monastery.
