Rob Hutsel is the president and CEO of the San Diego River Park Foundation and the recipient of the 2020 San Diego chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Stewardship Award for his years of work in preserving the river and its resources for the surrounding community
By LISA DEADERICK
The San Diego Union-Tribune
JULY 18, 2020
The seed that started Rob Hutsel’s love of nature was planted as a kid, taking road trips to national parks and other open spaces with his family. So he was already volunteering on his own as an adult before the massive sewage spill that polluted the San Diego River in 2000. “River Rob,” as he’s since been affectionately known, went from a part-time volunteer to full-time advocate, helping found the San Diego River Park Foundation in 2001.
“I thought I could have an impact,” he says of why he first started volunteering to keep the San Diego River clean. “It was a chance for me to give back to San Diego and perhaps carry out a love for our city. I never thought it would be something that I would do for close to two decades.”
Hutsel and his work has been recognized over the years by various organizations, and most recently as the recipient of the 2020 San Diego chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Stewardship Award. The foundation works with a coalition of dozens of nongovernmental organizations to protect and enhance the river’s resources, encourage the surrounding community to keep it healthy, and to create a 52-mile system of parks, trails, and open spaces along the San Diego River.
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