Twin Peaks in the Fall. The blaze of wildflowers in the spring is a distant memory. The fog blows in, but unlike the verdant Sutro Forest, where the trees harvest its water and the understory and duff hold in the moisture, this place doesn’t capture enough even for the grasses to stay green. It’s dry and brown. Gopher holes dot the bare earth.

Another distant memory: The spring pesticides for the Native Areas… Garlon and Roundup.

Except, what’s that white sheet pinned next to the sign telling us we’re in a Significant Natural Area? Uh, we were wrong about that last part. It’s Garlon Time again, this time with added Roundup. (Or the other way around.)

Here’s the sign next to which it’s pinned. It would be an irony, except we find Native “natural” areas and pesticide use seem to be connected. We saw the same thing in Spring, and with Imazapyr at Stern Grove. [Edited to Add: And glyphosate at Lake Merced.]

Roundup Max Pro (glyphosate) and Garlon Pro Ultra (triclopyr), will be sprayed on unspecified “invasive weeds”  (probably from a backpack sprayer).  We have serious concerns about both these herbicides, especially at high points where they can enter our watershed. (We also hope none of those applying the chemicals are women of reproductive age. Among its other problems, Garlon’s not good for fetuses. Edited to Add: Neither is Roundup.)

(Thank you for preserving this “natural” place.)

[Edited to Add: The signs have changed to show that Aquamaster is being used instead of Roundup Max Pro. It’s also a glyphosate herbicide, but is supposed to be inactivated by water, and so safer as a watershed pesticide. This is good. But Garlon is still in the mix.]