Posted by gerryweitz
Hearts Pest Management believes in conservation of the natural environment. We know that pest control can have a positive or a negative impact on our natural resources. We trust that by supporting conservation efforts we train our pest control staff to work with nature rather than against it.
We encourage our staff involvement in conservation efforts and are honored that we have a mission trail docent working with us.
Mission Trails Regional Park
San Diego, CA
Article and Photos by Donna Jensen, Hearts Pest Management Customer Service
And MTRP Volunteer Trail Guide
Mission Trails – Hiking, Biking, Climbing and Camping
Mission Trails has over 6000 acres of natural habitat dedicated to the preservation of Southern California’s wildlife and native plants with over 40 miles of recreation: hiking, biking, rock climbing, equestrian trails, two lakes, camping (camping suspended due to budgetary constraints), and a 3 mile scenic stretch of the San Diego River. Visitors can enjoy free guided nature walks led by trained volunteer guides. Educational classes are taught in the Visitor Center on birding basics and nature adventures for children. There are also free concerts and star-gazing for visitors to enjoy.
- Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center
Hikes are defined by trail difficulty from easy, mostly level, such as the nature walks from the Visitor Center to the very challenging hikes up Cowles Mountain. For first time visitors, a good place to begin is in the Visitor / Interpretive Center where you can learn about and view artifacts related to the indigenous people of the area, the Kumeyaay. Upstairs you’ll find a variety of wildlife from a bobcat, a mountain lion, and a mule deer to local birds and reptiles. In the reception area, there’s a discovery table set up each week with different educational materials to explore.
Toyon berry
Mountain Lion at Mission Trails Regional Park
Poison Oak (Leaves of three – Let them be)
Poison Oak in Mission Trails Regional Park
Looking out over the land, one can imagine it over 2000 years ago with its rolling hills of chaparral and mountainous views. The Kumeyaay occupied the area in a nearby village they called “Senyaweche.” To them, the land with all its resources was sacred. They made shelters called “ewaas” using the branches of the arroyo willow and cattail leaves for thatching. (In the back of the Visitor Center is an ewaa built by the local Kumeyaay of East County). The women gathered seeds and acorns while the men hunted mule deer and small mammals using projectile points made from quartz and other stone.
Phil Hoog, Director of American Indian Affairs, Museum of Man, squatting by Ewaa
Mission Trails and the Kumeyaay
The walk from the Visitor Center down to the grinding rocks where the Kumeyaay processed acorns is an easy, fairly level walk that takes about an hour and a half. Your trail guide will discuss the native plants and their uniqueness toSouthern California’s Mediterranean environment. Along the path is a 200 year old Coast Live Oak and underneath you’ll find a wood rat’s nest. Further ahead is theSan DiegoRiverwhere large boulders are clustered near the river and several mortars are located. The guide will explain how the Kumeyaay used the grinding rocks to process acorns and create a mush called “Shawee.”
Newly thatched Ewaa - Kumayeey home
Mission Trail Campground and Old Misson Dam
Camping is available at Mission Trail’s campground near Kumeyaay Lake. You don’t have to be a camper to take advantage of the 5 mile hike led by a trail guide from the campground. The hike winds through the grasslands and riparian environment around to the Old Mission Dam where you can view San Diego’s first water source built in 1812 by the Mission Padres and local indigenous people. The native people knew how to tame the river utilizing boulders and other materials in order to store water including the area where the dam was built. The Spanish were able to have the dam operational by 1813 and a flume was built that ran 6 miles from the dam to the San Diego Mission, where the water was used for watering crops and drinking water for large herds of cattle.
Mission Dam at Mission Trials Regional Park
Mission Dam close up at Mission Trials Regional Park
Cowles Mountain, San Diego, CA
Cowles Mountain (pronounced “Kohls”), named after George A. Cowles, a successful rancher during the 1870’s and ‘80’s, settled in the El Cajon valley where he grew raisins and olives. Cowles was named the “Raisin King of the US” but he was just as successful with thoroughbred horses and maintained about 100 horses and 30 head of cattle. The trail up Cowles Mountain is popular for serious runners and leads to one of the highest peaks (1,591 ft.) in the City of San Diego. Whether you are a beginning hiker, a nature lover, biker, a bird enthusiast, rock climber, camper, or just interested in local history, Mission Trails Regional Park has something for everyone to enjoy. See you on the trails.
Winter Solstice on Cowles Mountain
Mission Trails Regional Park – Bibliography
Crooks, Pamela. 2003. San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park Official Guidebook.La Mesa,CA:RidgwayPark Publishing.
2008. Trail Guide Training Manual,MissionTrailsRegionalPark,San Diego,CA.
Tagged: conservation, Mission Trails Regional Park, pest control company
Saturday December 10, 2011
Posted by gerryweitz
Hearts Pest Management Pays You to Lose Weight
Hearts Pest Management provides a supportive environment for the growth of professionals in pest control. This pest control company has provided a “Paid in Blood” Donations benefit and a Get Paid to Quit Smoking benefit. Now it announces the Big Losers Weight Loss Challenge benefit, encouraging employees to set targeted weight loss goals to increase their longevity and the quality of their lives, while reducing health care costs preventively.
Our industry and our country needs a healthy workforce. We hope this program encourages other companies to promote preventative health care.
Tagged: lose weight, pest control company, pest control professional, preventative health care, weight loss
Saturday December 3, 2011Posted by gerryweitz
This coming spring 2012, Hearts Pest Management will be expanding service into Ventura County with its’ well respected and proven green pest control program recognized by the certifying organization – EcoWise Certified. Hearts Pest Management became the first pest control company in Southern California several years ago, to reach out to EcoWise so as to become the first pest control company in the region with a certified green pest control company – using organic pest control and other EcoWise approved products.
We look forward to servicing your community. Our first employee in your area has training not only in structural and landscape pest control, but has also worked for 15 years in the field of lawn and turf management. We feel that with this new specialty within our organization, we will be able to meet an extremely broad set of requirements of Ventura County homeowners and businesses.
See you there this spring with pest control in Ventura.
Tagged: pest control, Ventura, Ventura County, Ventura pest control
Saturday December 3, 2011Posted by gerryweitz
This coming spring 2012, you will see Hearts Pest Management performing pest control in the towns of El Cajon, La Mesa, Chula Vista and the portion of Chula Vista affectionately known as East Lakes.
Hearts Pest Management had been restricted from entering these territories for three years due to a route purchase agreement in early 2009 that ends February 28, 2012. Before this date we will be able to provide commercial services, but we will expand into residential services in these communities effective March 1, 2012.
Hearts Pest Management is a leading provider of pest control in Southern California with five years of experience in certified green pest control from the one California based certifying organization – EcoWise Certified.
Tagged: Chula Vista, East Lakes, El Cajon, La Mesa
Thursday December 1, 2011Posted by gerryweitz
Hearts Pest Management has had in place a unique benefit promise to pay employees to stop smoking. This week the company came through as promised with the first payout to an employee who took the challenge and remained cigarette smoke free for one year, with a bonus check of $500!
For more on this unique policy for a pest control company, see:
Get Paid to Quit SmokingTagged: company benefits, Latest News, quit smoking, stop smoking
Saturday August 13, 2011Posted by gerryweitz
April 2011: Service is now available throughout “The Valley” of Northern Los Angeles County, excluding Santa Clarita.
We will be in Calabasas, Woodland Hills, West Hills, Encino, Van Nuys, Burbank, North Hollywood, Pasadena, Altadena and many other towns in Los Angeles along Rt 101 and R210.
Give us a call. Try the new service in town that offers green pest control solutions and very customized services across a wide spectrum of pest control needs.
Hearts Pest Management is best known as the first pest control company in southern California to become EcoWise Certified. This certification was created by the San Francisco Bay Area Governments in conjunction with the Bio-Integral Resource Center. Our pest control service went green several years ago. Still providing customized pest control services as people like it, with over 30,000 pest control service visits per year, we now have hundreds of satisfied green pest control customers that feel it both works well and fits their family or business needs.
More and more green businesses are choosing us. Organic food service and organic food manufacturers enjoy partnering with a pest control company that truly believes that the environmental route is the right way for businesses to be run. Hotels and HOAs realize that having a green certified pest control company reflects well on them. People with animals to care for also turn to us, such as a cat shelter.
We look forward to seeing you soon along Rt 101 and Rt 210 in Los Angeles.
Soon we will expand into Santa Clarita. Ask for us and perhaps we’ll get there sooner than anticipated.
Tagged: Latest News, Los Angeles
Sunday November 8, 2009Posted by ana
November 2009: Service is now available throughout Los Angeles County except the far northern tier. We will be in L.A. proper, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Rancho Palo Verdes, Pomona, West Covina and many other locations. Give us a call. Try the new service in town that offers green pest control solutions and very customized services across a wide spectrum of pest control needs.
Tagged: Latest News
Tuesday September 8, 2009Posted by ana
Gerry Weitz has now established a consulting company, Hearts Consulting Group, LLC. The mission of this company is to provide strategic, managerial and technical guidance to companies in all phases of growth, both within and outside the pest control arena. This group has the skills, experience and spunk needed to guide new companies and redirect older ones that are looking to revitalize and re-vision their organizations.
Tagged: Latest News
Monday June 8, 2009Posted by ana
Please take a moment to visit my blog at Hearts Pest Management – People and Pest Control. My June 2009 Pest Management Professional (PMP) “web exclusive” titled “Are We Ready to Lead?” can be found there. Please follow the link, read the article and share your thoughts on my blog. Let me know what you think about employee benefits and how they impact our ability to encourage and support our labor force.
Tagged: Latest News
Sunday June 8, 2008Posted by ana
I encourage consumers to follow my articles with Pest Management Professional (PMP) magazine and PMP’s contemporary on-line edition . My latest “web exclusive” about fear based selling, with examples from the bee, bed bug and bite segments within the pest control industry can be found at this link: “Killer Bed Bugs for Sale” Please also follow my ever-changing Hearts consulting blogsite, where I attempt to address issues in the industry and of concern to the public.
Tagged: Latest News
