The name Eloise Battle is one of reverence for some people in the city of San Diego, and even more so among advocates for Tecolote Canyon.
Battle, who died in March at 95, was a longtime er of the canyon who spearheaded efforts in the 1970s to preserve the open space from development. Friends, neighbors and family say she inspired them with a love of the canyon over the course of her life and more than 60 years living in San Diego.
To commemorate Battle’s contributions, the city of San Diego installed an honorary street sign on Wednesday on Tecolote Road — now officially known as Eloise Battle Boulevard.
“Every time we drive to and from Tecolote Canyon Nature Center, we will see this wonderful sign that reminds us of Eloise,” said District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, who organized the signage. “She was the savior of Tecolote Canyon.”
The new sign is located at the intersection of Tecolote Road and Morena Boulevard, less than half a mile southwest of the nature center. Near the center, visitors will find the Battle Trail, also named after the canyon advocate.
Mayor Todd Gloria said at the unveiling that Battle “embodied the idea that we must leave things better than you find them.”
For more than 50 years, she dedicated herself to Tecolote Canyon, motivated by a deep love of the canyon’s plants, animals and Indigenous history. She also lived in a home in Clairemont overlooking the open space.
In the 1970s, she was instrumental in defeating a proposed 1,500-home development and a four-lane road through the canyon. And she founded an organization to efforts to enable residents to tax themselves to get additional city services — in their case, to protect the canyon from future development.
Later, after Tecolote Canyon was established as the city’s first open space park in 1978, Battle was named the first chair of the Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee.
Battle’s efforts helped create the “template” for the city’s future parks, said Andy Field, the city’s parks and recreation director. She continued to play a key role in the canyon’s preservation for the rest of her life, inspiring those around her to fight for it, and today’s advocates hope her legacy will live on.
As Darrel Madison, the chair of the Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee, put it: “May her name and honorary street sign provoke hope, curiosity and inspiration for community to be the future stewards of Tecolote Canyon.”
