UCSF is doing some maintenance work on the Nike Road (connecting the Aldea campus with the Native Garden). We got a notification that said:

“In the area of Mount Sutro along the Nike Road that leads from the Aldea housing complex to the summit, UCSF Facilities Management will be addressing several hazardous tree conditions. This work includes safety pruning to remove dead and/or broken tree branches and removal of dead and fallen trees. All trees are located along the Nike Road and are representing a high risk of failure.

“The work will take place Tuesday January 19 through Friday January 22. Staging will start after 8 am, and noisy work will be limited to the hours of 9am to 5pm.

This project is unrelated to the proposed fire mitigation projects.”

We were concerned about this and requested further information, including whether Nike Rd was a public right-of-way, whether there would be any visual impact from Christopher Drive (which is overlooked by Nike Road), and whether the SF Tree Council had been notified. Here’s what Barbara Bagot-Lopez of UCSF’s community relations department told us:

“UCSF owns this property, including Nike Road, and it is our responsibility to maintain the property and make sure it is safe.  We expect that approximately ten dead and fallen trees will be removed; the bulk of the work will involve safety pruning. The visual impact from Christopher Drive will be minimal to none.  The SF Tree Council is on my notification list, but — as always — please feel free to forward my email notices to other interested parties.”

Edited to Add: We took a look around Jan 30 and 31st. The trimming’s been done.  It’s pretty much as UCSF described – some 10-20 trees and large branches removed. Except for the fresh-cut stumps, the visual impact is quite minor.  Most of the missing trees were relatively small.

After trimming

And – The Native Garden has some flowers at last. It still has a lot of dead plants, but some of the bushes are beginning to bloom. I actually saw a hummingbird there, trilling a challenge to others in the forest (who were trilling right back).

pink-flowered currant

yellow-flowered interloper

Still dry