Author Archives: webmaster

SF Fire Department Busts Some Myths – And More “Work” in Sutro Forest?

Posted on September 20, 2015 by webmaster

This post is republished with permission and minor edits from the website of the San Francisco Forest Alliance. We think it is of particular interest not only because of the myth-busting, but because we were told for the first time … Continue reading →

Posted in Sutro Forest "Fire Risk" | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sutro Forest: Fog and Puddles While Elsewhere Fires Burn

Posted on September 16, 2015 by webmaster

The fog rolled in, the mist filled the trees, and the forest’s music was the patter of the Cloud Forest’s internal rain. This was Sutro Cloud Forest on Saturday, September 12th 2015. We were glad of our raincoat as we … Continue reading →

Posted in Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, Sutro Forest "Fire Risk" | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Sutro Forest Attrition

Posted on August 27, 2015 by webmaster

The July message from UCSF was both innocuous and concerning. They were going to do some “hazardous tree work” immediately… and more in the Fall. UCSF must immediately remove some hazardous trees in the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve in … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, UCSF | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Petition the Sierra Club to Stop Advocating Against Trees and For Pesticides

Posted on August 9, 2015 by webmaster

Million Trees and The San Francisco Forest Alliance  have a petition to ask the Sierra Club to stop advocating for the destruction of trees and the use of pesticides in the San Francisco Bay Area. You may be shocked to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

“Are Eucalyptus Trees Going To Kill Us All?” Talk by Jack Gescheidt – Aug 15, 2015

Posted on August 4, 2015 by webmaster

Jack Gescheidt of the Tree Spirit Project, uses a unique method to draw attention to threatened forests: He gets volunteers of all ages to pose nude among the trees to create art photographs. He came to Sutro Forest two years … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation | Tagged , , | Comments Off on “Are Eucalyptus Trees Going To Kill Us All?” Talk by Jack Gescheidt – Aug 15, 2015

Sutro Forest in May 2015 – Green Despite the Drought

Posted on June 22, 2015 by webmaster

We’re into the second year of a drought, here in California. In Sutro Forest, you’d hardly know it. The forest is lush and green. We took these pictures  a month ago. We meant to put them up then, but here … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Hiking, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Drought-Adapted Eucalyptus NOT Dying by the Thousand

Posted on June 19, 2015 by webmaster

Jake Sigg, retired San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD) gardener who is considered the doyen of the Native Plant movement in San Francisco, has a widely circulated email newsletter. In it, he has been pushing the argument that thousands of … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, nativism | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Fighting SF Bay Area Deforestation

Posted on May 23, 2015 by webmaster

We’ve been extremely concerned about this disastrous East Bay project – a plan to cut down up to 450,000 trees. Others are fighting back. The post below has three ways in which you can help. It’s republished with permission from … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, eucalyptus, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Fighting SF Bay Area Deforestation

Cal-IPC Eucalyptus Reassessment: Not So Invasive

Posted on April 1, 2015 by webmaster

Back in July 2014, we wrote about the California Invasive Plant Council’s draft reassessment of eucalyptus. It had produced the same “Moderate” rating as before, but for different reasons. But last month, they came out with the final reassessment. Cal-IPC … Continue reading →

Posted in eucalyptus | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Law Suit to Stop FEMA from Funding East Bay Deforestation

Posted on March 13, 2015 by webmaster

Recently, we had written about the hugely destructive plan to cut down hundreds of thousands of trees in the East Bay. The new Plan, written in response to 13,000 comments, was as bad as the previous one. (Read that here: … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, Environment, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

UCSF Quarterly CAG Meeting – March 2015 – Sutro Forest

Posted on March 5, 2015 by webmaster

We attended the quarterly Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting, held this quarter at Mission Bay in UCSF’s new hospital and campus. SUTRO FOREST The section relevant to Sutro Forest were: 1) Today, March 5th, they are planning to cut down … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, UCSF | Tagged , | Comments Off on UCSF Quarterly CAG Meeting – March 2015 – Sutro Forest

Winter Walk in Mt Sutro Cloud Forest

Posted on February 23, 2015 by webmaster

It was the perfect afternoon for a walk in the company of a friend’s friend who wanted to see Sutro forest. It rained the previous day, but now the weather offered no more than an occasional sprinkle. The tops of … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Mission Blue Butterfly- The Latest on Twin Peaks

Posted on February 5, 2015 by webmaster

In November 2014, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department published an upbeat progress report on their project to reintroduce the Mission Blue butterfly to Twin Peaks.  This butterfly is an endangered subspecies of the not-threatened Boisduval’s Blue. The project staff … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , | 6 Comments

SF Forest Alliance Sent 1700 Signatures to Mayor Lee!

Posted on January 31, 2015 by webmaster

Supporters may recall that in January 2014, we published a request for signatures for a new petition from San Francisco Forest Alliance, asking Mayor Lee to rein in the Natural Areas Program (NAP) of the SF Recreation and Parks Department. … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program | Tagged , | Comments Off on SF Forest Alliance Sent 1700 Signatures to Mayor Lee!

What Happened to Sutro Forest in 2014 – and Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by webmaster

Happy New Year to all our readers! We thought we’d end the year by reviewing the pluses and minuses for 2014. POSITIVES + UCSF has suspended its plans to cut down 90% of the trees in Sutro Forest. A new … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism, UCSF | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

East Bay Trees to be Destroyed – How to Help

Posted on December 15, 2014 by webmaster

Our regular readers may recall that an extremely destructive project is planned for Berkeley and the East Bay Hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s going to fell nearly half a million trees. The land managers sought FEMA funding … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, Environment | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Black Lives Matter to Everyone

Posted on December 12, 2014 by webmaster

This site focuses on Mount Sutro Cloud Forest, but in the past we’ve digressed into other areas of environmental and public interest. We discussed butterflies, herbicides, and even a particularly egregious study that attempted to indicate that cats were major … Continue reading →

Posted in nativism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Sutro Forest Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2014 by webmaster

Fall in San Francisco brings uncertain weather – (welcome) rainy days mixed in with days of beautiful crisp clarity (also welcome). The day before Thanksgiving was a picture-book  afternoon, and Sutro Forest beckoned. We went up perhaps an hour before … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Hiking | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Managing Urban Coyotes: by Janet Kessler

Posted on November 21, 2014 by webmaster

A few months ago, coyotes were sighted in and around Sutro Forest. In fact, all urban parks – and some neighborhoods – in San Francisco have families of coyotes visiting or living in them. For those who love wildlife, this … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , | 1 Comment

SF Beautiful Nominates Your Webmaster

Posted on October 9, 2014 by webmaster

SF Beautiful, a non-profit organization that promotes and celebrates efforts to make – and keep – the city beautiful, nominated your webmaster for an award as an ‘unsung hero.’ The real unsung hero, of course, was beautiful Sutro forest itself, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

No Comments at UCSF’s LRDP EIR Hearing – 22 Sept 2014

Posted on September 23, 2014 by webmaster

UCSF held a meeting for public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) on Sept 22, 2014. About 15-20 neighbors showed up. No one had any comments. The meeting started at 7p.m. … Continue reading →

Posted in Meetings, Neighborhood impact, UCSF | Tagged , | Comments Off on No Comments at UCSF’s LRDP EIR Hearing – 22 Sept 2014

A 1927 San Francisco Tourist Map Shows Sutro Forest

Posted on September 13, 2014 by webmaster

This delightful tourist map from 1927 has been circulating on the Internet. It’s got a lot of fun detail. (Clicking on this map will make it larger.) The RichmondSF blog researched the map, and had some interesting notes about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, UCSF | Tagged , | Comments Off on A 1927 San Francisco Tourist Map Shows Sutro Forest

UCSF Meeting: Sutro Forest Notes (3 Sept 2014)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by webmaster

UCSF’s quarterly Community Advisory Group (CAG) quarterly meeting was held on September 3rd, 2014. The CAG consists of selected people from the community, many of whom have been on it for years or decades. Though our point of view is … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, UCSF | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

AAA Says, Don’t Miss Mount Sutro

Posted on August 28, 2014 by webmaster

We’ve been members of AAA for decades, now, and value their adventure-inspiring magazine, Via, almost as much as their roadside service. Recently, we were particularly delighted to see a great article on one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets – Sutro … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Mount Sutro: Fungi in the Forest

Posted on August 5, 2014 by webmaster

In an earlier post, we’d said that fungi and mushrooms were so unusual in Sutro Forest that we took photographs when we saw them – like on this walk in December 2012. But recently, on another visit to the forest, … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Mount Sutro: Fungi in the Forest

Sutro Forest: NATURAL, Not Diseased or Dying

Posted on July 27, 2014 by webmaster

CRYING WOLF WITH BEETLES In the Sutro Stewards blog last month, Craig Dawson (who is its Executive Director) wrote a post claiming that the forest was in dire straits, infected with funguses and beetles: specifically, Anthracnose, armillaria, phytopthora, wood decay … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Mount Sutro Stewards, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, UCSF | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Cal-IPC Eucalyptus Reassessment: Same Result (for Different Reasons)

Posted on July 26, 2014 by webmaster

[Edited to Add: Cal-IPC did change the rating in its final version.] The California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) designates eucalyptus as “moderately invasive.” Land managers all over California have used this designation as an excuse to cut down thousands of … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

San Francisco Butterflies – Count Results for 2014

Posted on July 25, 2014 by webmaster

Each year, in the 4 weeks before or after the 4th of July, the North American Butterfly Association, NABA, sponsors a butterfly count across the nation. Here in San Francisco, Liam O’Brien manages it, maneuvering around the fog of summer. … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Walking in Sutro Forest – June, July 2014

Posted on July 18, 2014 by webmaster

It’s a while since we posted about Sutro Forest conditions, so we’d like to record pictures and observations from the last few weeks. Much of the forest is still very beautiful, especially in the fog. But around 1200 trees have … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Hiking, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

The ROSE Disappointment

Posted on July 16, 2014 by webmaster

Some weeks ago, we had alerted our readers to the ROSE (Recreation and Open Space Element  amendment to the General Plan. It’s a bad idea, mainly because of the egregious Policy 4.2 that potentially expands “Natural Area” management principles to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program | Tagged , , | 1 Comment