How urban canyons improve the quality of life throughout Southern California

By LaTresa Pearson

I feel as though I’ve just passed through a magical portal. One moment, I’m walking across a gravel parking lot for San Diego’s Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, accompanied by the hum of traffic from the nearby roads and freeways. The next, I’m enveloped by western sycamore trees, coast live oaks and arroyo willows.

The traffic noise recedes into the background, succumbing to the bubbly song of a house wren and the burbling of the nearby creek. I pause to watch...