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PETITION TO UCSF: SAVE SUTRO FOREST
PETITION : Stop NAP, save the Forest
PETITION: Sierra Club, Please Stop!
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Recent Posts
- Best Wishes for 2026
- Landslides in Sutro Forest, predictably
- Sutro Forest – More trees being removed
- Season’s Greetings for 2025
- Happy Holidays -2023
- A Pesticides Road Map
- Season’s Greetings!
- Tree-Thoughts at 125 Years
- Sutro Forest Destruction – March 2022
- More Trees Being Felled in Sutro Forest
- Why Urban Forests Can’t be “Native”
- A Candle for the New Year
- Don’t Feed Coyotes
- Wildcare’s Request: Respect the Nest
- Dr Morley Singer, RIP
A HIKE IN SUTRO FOREST (Links)
BIRDS & WILDLIFE IN BAY AREA (Links)
- Bird checklist for San Francisco from USGS
- Birding – A really good blog for Oregon and California (including San Francisco)
- Birding on Mt Sutro
- San Francisco's coyotes
- The Beavers at Martinez
- Urban Wildness: San Francisco wildlife (birds, coyotes, insects)
- Wildlife Activism blog
- Wildlife Hospital in San Rafael (Marin County, CA)
BUTTERFLY ID (Links)
HERBICIDES (Links)
SAVING TREES (Links)
SITES OF INTEREST (Other Links)
Author Archives: webmaster
Dusk in the forest (with owls)
We walked up into the Sutro Forest on a peaceful bird-filled evening. A few outside noises drifted in. The trees were full of the tweets and trills of bird-sounds, but the creatures themselves, evidently looking to settle in for the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged BIRDS & WILDLIFE IN BAY AREA (Links), native plants, owls, sutro, Sutro Forest
2 Comments
“Nature in the City”: Tree-huggers vs Tree-killers
Recently, we posted a reader’s note about a talk from the organization called ‘Nature in the City’ (NC) on the “urban forest.” (Those are NC’s quote-marks; they apparently don’t believe in urban forests). NC is the parent organization of the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, nativism
Tagged birds, eucalyptus, eucalyptus myths, native plants, nativism, nature in the city, puzzled, tree killers, unscientific, wildlife
11 Comments
Low Fire Risk and the “Historic Trail”
I attended a meeting called by Parks and Rec this evening, to discuss opening access to the forest at 17th and Stanyan in Cole Valley. This the black dotted line in the map below. [ETA: The map was distributed at … Continue reading
Erroneous “Facts” from “Nature in the City”
A few days ago, under the auspices of Shaping San Francisco, ‘Nature in the City’ (NC) offered a public talk on the “urban forest” (their quote-marks, they don’t appear to believe in urban forests). NC is the parent organization of … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Meetings, nativism
Tagged josiah clarke, mt sutro stewards, nativism, nature in the city, trees
4 Comments
Native Plants and Neurotoxins
It appears that Native Areas in San Francisco are again linked to toxic herbicides. We’ve posted earlier about Twin Peaks and Garlon/ Roundup. This time, it’s Imazapyr in Stern Grove. Imazapyr is sold under the brand name of “Habitat” when … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, nativism
Tagged herbicide, imazapyr, native plants, nativism, san francisco
11 Comments
Tree trimming and removal
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 … Continue reading
Twin Peaks in Bloom
Twin Peaks is covered with wildflowers. Right now, it’s mainly the white clusters of sweet alyssum (Lobularia)… But the yellow oxalis (oxalis bes-caprae) is beginning to flower, too, and soon there’ll be drifts of it all over the mountain… [ETA … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged Garlon, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Roundup, Twin Peaks
1 Comment
‘Heartbreakingly Beautiful’ Trees
Almost as though in response to our item about the Chron’s indifference to trees, the 27th December issue carried Tom Stienstra’s marvelous piece about the Peters Creek redwood grove, which passes the “blindfold test.” “What is the Blindfold Test? Imagine … Continue reading
Tree-friendly? New York Times vs SF Chronicle
Yesterday’s Bay Area section of the New York Times carried an article on trees that was both sad and refreshing. Sad, because it talked of tree-destruction – which seems to have become a California Thing. Refreshing, because it actually appeared … Continue reading
Global Warming & Quarter-mile relocations
Someone drew my attention to an article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle: “Global Warming to Keep Animals, Plants On Move.” The story was about a study from a scientific team from Cal Academy of Sciences, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Institute … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism
Tagged climate change, eucalyptus, global warming, native plants, nativism, sequester carbon, trees, wildlife
1 Comment
Trees, Copenhagen, and Climate Change
Carolyn Blair, Executive Director of the SF Tree Council (contact details below), added a comment to this website yesterday mentioning an article about the meeting at Copenhagen. We felt it deserved a separate post. “Did anyone see this important article?” … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged cloud forest, Sutro Forest, Tree Council, trees
Comments Off on Trees, Copenhagen, and Climate Change
Eucalyptus Saves Rare Native Plant!
Nancy Wuerfel sent us this note: “For those who blame the eucalyptus for “taking over” the forest, please note that they were responsible for protecting this rare plant in the Presidio and keeping it safe from harm. Give credit, where … Continue reading
FEMA, New York Times
The New York Times blog yesterday linked to this website, via an article about FEMA and the East Bay. We’re flattered, though the opening sentence of the article, about “non-native, frowzy eucalyptus” didn’t promise unbiased reporting. (To be fair, this … Continue reading
Stewardship of a Forest
Two weeks ago, I visited the forest surrounding the Meiji shrine, in Tokyo, Japan. As with the Sutro Cloud Forest, I was struck by the wonderful old trees growing in the heart of a city, and wanted to find out … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism, Neighborhood impact, UCSF
Tagged birds, eucalyptus, Honda Seiroku, mount sutro, native plants, nativism, Seiroku Honda, sutro, Sutro Forest, trails, UCSF, wildlife
11 Comments
Herbicide Moratorium on Mt Sutro
Earlier on, we posted about the use of Roundup on the Aldea campus. (We had heard reports that it was used in the Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, too; but there were contrary reports at the October 19th meeting. Until we … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, Neighborhood impact
Tagged Aldea Student Housing, herbicide, mount sutro, Roundup, Sutro Forest, UCSF
10 Comments
Cutting Down Trees
Someone brought over the November/ December 09 copy of the Sierra Club Magazine. It fell open to the centerfold. There in a big blue box and large letters it said: ————- “It’s cool because people are cutting down trees instead … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, nativism, UCSF
Tagged mount sutro, native plants, nativism, sierra club, Sutro Forest, trees
1 Comment
Slate magazine on Invasives
Someone sent me a link to a thoughtful article in Slate magazine called “Don’t Sweat the Invasion” by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow. The author starts out with the example of tamarisk, also known as salt-cedar; it’s an “exotic invasive” that spreads along … Continue reading
Posted in nativism
Tagged eucalyptus, mount sutro, native plants, nativism, sutro, Sutro Forest, trees, wildlife
1 Comment
Volunteers, pizza, and $30/hour
On the new improved web-page about Mt Sutro, UCSF has included some information on how they work with the Mount Sutro Stewards, a volunteer nativist group (responsible for the Native Garden at the summit), which builds and maintains the trails … Continue reading
November Fog Log
As we said in the original Fog Log post, we’re keeping track of that crucial “September to November period when fire risk is greatest,” according to the UCSF letter. “Mount Sutro is squarely in the fog belt. The question is, … Continue reading
Posted in Sutro Forest "Fire Risk", UCSF
Tagged FEMA misuse, fire risk?, mount sutro, sutro, Sutro Forest, UCSF
1 Comment
“Least Visible” South Ridge and Edgewood
UCSF’s presentation suggested that the planned cut areas are inconspicuous from offsite. This is South Ridge (above). The yellow dots outline the planned Cut Zone. The homes below it are the Forest Knolls neighborhood. ———– And this shows the Edgewood … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Neighborhood impact
Tagged FEMA misuse, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, UCSF
3 Comments
Fire Hazard Map(s)?
Fire Hazard maps are critical to substantiating that there even is a hazard. The maps associated with this Plan don’t achieve that. TWO MAPS THAT DON’T MATCH UCSF’s 19 October presentation included a map called City-Wide Wildfire Hazards. (Page 18 … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Maps, Meetings, Sutro Forest "Fire Risk"
Tagged FEMA misuse, fire risk?, mount sutro, sutro, Sutro Forest, thinning, trails, UCSF
5 Comments
Museum-ification – Pt 2
This continues Paul Gobster’s article from Pt 1. —————— Landscape and Land Use History Cranz and Boland (2004a, 2004b) do not identify how the recently developed ecological parks in their sample came into being, but in my own research I … Continue reading
Museum-ification – Pt 1
Someone sent me an interesting paper on Museumification of urban nature, by Paul Gobster, published in “Nature and Culture” journal in Autumn 2007. He talks of how “parks as postcards” interfere with peoples’ natural interaction with parks, and its particular … Continue reading
UCSF calls two meetings
UCSF has called two meetings to discuss the project. 1. Monday, Oct 19 2009, 6.30 p.m. [Our report, with some comments, is here.] UCSF Millberry Union, 500 Parnassus Ave. $1.50 validated parking in UCSF public parking garage. 2. Saturday, Oct … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on UCSF calls two meetings
October Fog Log
As we said in the original Fog Log post, we’re keeping track of that crucial “September to November period when fire risk is greatest,” according to the UCSF letter. “Mount Sutro is squarely in the fog belt. The question is, … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 