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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
Mt. Davidson Park – An Open Space Preserved for Recreation or Native Plants?
It’s not just Sutro Forest. Native plant interests threaten trees throughout the city, and in particular, in San Francisco’s other significant century-old forest: Mt Davidson. A favorite area for the residents of Miraloma Park, the Significant Natural Areas Management Plan … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, eucalyptus, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged eucalyptus, Miraloma Park, Mt Davidson, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program, trails, trees
Comments Off on Mt. Davidson Park – An Open Space Preserved for Recreation or Native Plants?
‘Tis the Season… for Poisons on Twin Peaks
And when is it not, actually? Maybe this could be called the Santa Claus mix? The old formula – Glyphosate and Imazapyr, being used against “Road brush” whatever that is, and erhata grass. It’s scheduled for Dec 19-23, 2011. Pesticides … Continue reading
The San Francisco Forest Alliance
We’ve been critical of the so-called “Natural” areas program (or officially, the Significant Natural Resource Areas Plan) that covers some 1100 acres across 32 separate parks in San Francisco. While the idea of a Natural Area is appealing (as it … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged birds, habitat, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program, san francisco, trees, wildlife
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Bees, Weeds, and Nativism
Nativists who favor “native pollinators” often believe that these insects – bees, butterflies, moths and similar insects – rely on native plants. The plants and insects co-evolved, goes the argument; and so to protect one, you must plant the other. … Continue reading
Glen Canyon Park: Pesticides and Habitat Removal
It’s that time of the year: Habitat removal time. In Glen Canyon Park, bushes and small trees that provide an impenetrable thicket for birds and animals to take cover are now becoming a lot more penetrable… … and bright-berried bushes, … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged Glen Canyon Park, glyphosate, imazapyr, mount sutro, Sutro Forest
3 Comments
SNRAMP, Pesticides, and Mt Davidson
It’s not just Twin Peaks and Glen Canyon and McLaren Park and Stern Grove. Here are some recent pictures we received of pesticide use on Mt Davidson. It’s the old favorites, Aquamaster (glyphosate) and Polaris (Imazapyr). Coming soon to one … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged aquamaster, glyphosate, habitat, herbicide, imazapyr, Mt Davidson, polaris
1 Comment
Monarch Butterflies in Eucalyptus in San Francisco
Like everyone else, we knew that Monarch butterflies visit California’s coast in winter. What we didn’t know was that they’re right here in San Francisco! (The picture here isn’t from San Francisco, it’s from a commercial stock-photo site.) MONARCHS AMONG … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Natural areas Program
Tagged butterfly, eucalyptus, habitat, Monarch butterfly, Treasure Island, trees, Yerba Buena
7 Comments
Mt Sutro Forest: New Trail, No EIR
UCSF has a detailed plan for Mount Sutro’s forest. It involves adding three new trails (shown in dark red on the map): The Christopher/ South Ridge Trail (parallel to Christopher on the map) ; The Clarendon/ South Ridge Trail (joining … Continue reading
Glen Canyon Park: Birds, Habitat, and the Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Program (SNRAMP)
Recently, we attended a meeting where we were given a beautiful pamphlet regarding the Feathered Friends of Glen Canyon Park. It pictured 45 species of birds that have been sighted in the park (including flyovers). And it said: “Willows that … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged birds, Glen Canyon, habitat, habitat destruction, san francisco
1 Comment
The Summer Tanager and San Francisco’s Non-Native Plants
One of the more interesting groups to watch, if you like birds, is the Yahoo group SF Birds. (Anyone can read it, but you must join to post in it. [ETA: It’s apparently been changed to a members-only group; only … Continue reading
SF Natural Areas Program: Imazapyr, Glyphosate Pesticides at McLaren Park
It looks like the SF NAP is using a lot of Imazapyr since San Francisco’s Department of the Environment approved it earlier this year. We’ve seen signs on Twin Peaks, in Glen Canyon, at Stern Grove. Now someone has sent … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
3 Comments
The Bees of Glen Canyon Park
This was going to be a post about the San Francisco Natural Areas Program (SF NAP) destroying a hive of feral honeybees in Glen Canyon Park. It still is, but with less anger. In a tree behind the rec center, … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program
Tagged bees, Glen Canyon, Natural Areas Program
6 Comments
Native Restorations Don’t “Restore” Anything – Professor Arthur Shapiro
We are reprinting, with permission, Professor Shapiro’s comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report on the Significant Natural Areas Program. It was first published on Death of a Million Trees. ————————————————————————- With permission and in its entirety we are publishing … Continue reading
Killing Healthy Trees in SF’s “Natural Areas”
We referred to this article in our summary of the mistakes in the Draft Environmental Impact Report on SF’s Natural Areas. We are now reprinting it with permission (and minor edits) from the website, Death of a Million Trees. It … Continue reading
Blue Angels over Mount Sutro Forest
Lulu Carpenter sent me this picture of the Blue Angels flying over Mount Sutro Forest, with the note “I wish I had had my camera out today – they flew right over my head, much lower than they were flying … Continue reading
San Francisco’s Natural Areas: The Many Mistakes in the Draft EIR
We’ve posted several times recently about the San Francisco Natural Areas Program. About the overall program: Why San Francisco’s Natural Areas Are — Unnatural About trees to be felled: Destroying the Trees of San Francisco About pesticide use: Toxic and … Continue reading
San Francisco Natural Area’s Pesticide Violations
As we noted in our previous post, the San Francisco Natural Areas Program seems to be using increasing amounts of toxic pesticides. From time to time, we’ve posted information here about pesticide use in the Natural Areas Program (NAP) lands. … Continue reading
Natural Areas Program’s Pesticides: Toxic and Toxic-er
It’s no surprise that people are beginning to associate San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program with pesticides. It’s been using them (if the city’s records are accurate) at an increasing rate. In 2009, it applied Garlon 16 times; in 2010, it … Continue reading
“Natural Areas Program”: Destroying the Trees of San Francisco
We re-publish this recent article with permission (and minor edits) from Death of a Million Trees. Plans for managing San Francisco’s Natural Areas — currently the subject of a Draft Environmental Impact Report — calls for cutting down thousands of … Continue reading
Why San Francisco’s Natural Areas Are — Unnatural
WHEN I first heard about San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program (SF NAP) some years ago, I was charmed. Over 1000 acres of city-owned land would be left to Nature, more wild and free than the orderly, gardened lawns and playgrounds … Continue reading
Bird-safe Buildings for San Francisco
Bird-killers. More dangerous than wind-farms, more insidious than cats… it’s windows. (The glass ones, not the thing produced by Microsoft.) Birds can’t see normal glass, and crash into it. Either they die, or they become easy prey. San Francisco, like … Continue reading
San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program…Where’s It Going?
This article has been reprinted with permission from Death of a Million Trees, a blog dedicated to preventing unnecessary tree-felling. (The emphasis is ours, as are minor edits.) [Edited to Add: MillionTrees updated this post. We have copied over the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program
5 Comments
Mount Sutro: Cloud Forest Pictures by Paul Hudson
The other day, we happened upon this photograph on Flickr, the photo-sharing website that’s part of Yahoo. We go into the forest often, and have hundreds of pictures taken in various seasons and times of day. This was different. It … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged cloud forest, eucalyptus, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, trees
2 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest: The View From Cole Valley
Soon after we posted our impression of a deforested Mount Sutro viewed from the south, someone wrote to us about the views from the Eastern side, where Cole Valley and Mount Olympus and many other neighborhoods currently enjoy the view … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, eucalyptus, Mount Sutro Stewards, nativism, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged eucalyptus, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, tree killers, UCSF
1 Comment
Mount Sutro: Current Conditions in the Cloud Forest
Sunday evening, we were in the forest. We started at Stanyan x 17th, going up the (Stanyan) “Kill-trees Trail.” BEAUTIFUL — AND SLUSHY It’s been very foggy in the last few weeks, and you can see the effect of the … Continue reading
Posted in Maps, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged cloud forest, eucalyptus, Sutro Forest, trails
1 Comment
Twin Peaks: Sunset and Evening Fog and Pesticides
It was an amazingly beautiful evening over San Francisco, and of course the views from Twin Peaks were spectacular. The fog flowed through and over the Golden Gate, and only the towers poked through. This is the stuff that turns … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged glyphosate, imazapyr, Jake Sigg, Roundup, Sutro Forest, Twin Peaks
5 Comments
Destroying the Soundscape of Mount Sutro Forest
People have mentioned the sounds of and in the forest before, but it was only when we joined a Soundwalk in the forest that we became so conscious of it. Recently, someone pointed us to an article about Soundscape Ecology, … Continue reading
Natural areas, Pine Lake and Pesticides… Again
From time to time, readers send us information about pesticides being used in “Natural Areas.” This time, it’s Pine Lake in Stern Grove… the same place where Imazapyr was used even before it was approved by the City. (It’s called … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, Natural areas Program
Tagged Natural Areas Program, Roundup
3 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest, Deforested
This is the view of Mount Sutro Forest from Twin Peaks. So we were thinking… how would Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve look if the anti-tree people get their way? Maybe something like this? (It’s our best estimate, using a … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 