The Outdoor Hospitality Industry has once again named Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve the “Large Park of the Year” in the parks and campgrounds category and also awarded the facility its “Plan-It Green Park of the Year” award.
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The 190‐acre park was recognized for its amenities, its guests’ experiences and its conservation efforts.
On the day before Thanksgiving, the park’s campground was more than 90% filled with families taking advantage of the school break and continuing a tradition of enjoying the holiday with a cookout by the lake.
But even on its busiest days — the park attracts 160,000 visitors each year — the grounds are tranquil and largely still, with the sound of geese occasionally echoing across the water.
“You’d be amazed at how quiet it gets,” said Santee Lakes Parks & Recreation Director Cory Kading.
The park has 290 spots for RVs and 10 for tents and 10 cabins, including three on the water where people can fish from their porch. The camping sites are larger than in most parks, and the 2,000 trees of 53 varieties on the property add to the feeling of remoteness despite being in a city.
“These are some of the most mature coastal live oaks in the county that the public can see,” Kading said as he drove a golf cart over a dirt road along one of the park’s seven lakes.
“You see everybody out here trout fishing today,” he said while passing a row of people with poles. “The stock is in, and they want to get those trout.”
The lakes are stocked every other week with trout in winter months and catfish in the summer, but the waters also have bass, cod, crappie, carp and sunfish.
Kading said pelicans have come to know the park’s schedule and show up a week before they are stocked in anticipation of the trouts’ arrival.
Floating cabins, left, and lakefront cabins, which are available for overnight stays at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve in Santee on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
While not consecutive wins, this was the fifth time the recreation preserve has earned the “Large Park of the Year” recognition and the ninth time for the “Plan-It Green” award.
The awards were announced Nov. 6 at the Outdoor Hospitality Conference in Oklahoma City.
Judging for the “Large Park of the Year” is based on several categories, including guest reviews, amenities, marketing and social media.
The “Plan‐It Green” award recognizes campgrounds that practice green initiatives, which at Santee Lakes includes recycling 2 million gallons of water daily through its water reclamation facility and an RV storage project with 14,000 solar arrays to generate 50% of the campground’s energy.
The recycling program diverts 10 tons of waste from entering a landfill annually, and another 50 tons is diverted by separating green waste. The 2,103 trees in the park’s urban forestry program absorb 97,000 pounds of carbon annually.
Director of Park and Recreation Cory Kading stands in the campground at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve in Santee on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Santee Lakes is on the site of an old gravel mine that was purchased in 1957 by the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which developed a nearby water reclamation facility that was crucial for the growth of the area that otherwise had relied on septic systems.
About 50% of the water is used at the local golf course, city parks and schools, which has increased the community’s water supply without raising taxes of ratepayer fees while reducing the wastewater stream and processing costs.
The park opened for recreational use with four lakes in 1961 and has been expanded since then.
