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PETITION : Stop NAP, save the Forest
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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)
Category Archives: Environment
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
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
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
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
San Francisco Butterfly Count Results, July 2011
The San Francisco butterfly count, led by Liam O’ Brien and sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association, has announced its results. This year, it was held on July 3 on a bright sunny day, compared with last year’s June … Continue reading
San Francisco, Biodiversity, and the Department of the Environment
We’re aware of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment as the first line of defense against toxic chemicals in our public lands. But they’re more than the defense-against-the-dark-chems guys. They’re the recycling guys. The energy saving guys. The community gardens … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, nativism
Tagged Garlon, imazapyr, native plants, nativism, Roundup
2 Comments
Kareiva, Nature Conservancy, and Nativism
A few days ago, we attended a talk by Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at the well-known Nature Conservancy. (He’s also been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.) It’s an environmental organization that prides itself on being science-based; … Continue reading
Interwoven and Integrated: Non-native and Native Species in Life’s Web
Lock and key. Co-evolution. “Made for each other.” One of the dogmas offered by nativists is that native plants and animals, evolving together for thousands of years, form a closed interdependent ecology. According to the California Native Plant Society’s website: Native … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest as Habitat: Janet Kessler in ‘Way Out West’
We’ve often written about the importance of Mount Sutro Forest as habitat. (For instance: here.) Everywhere in our city, eucalyptus provides nesting and perching sites for many different birds, as does acacia which grows as a sub-canopy in many parts … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism
Tagged habitat, Natural Areas Program, Sutro Forest, wildlife
1 Comment
Lament for Oakland’s Garber Park
We read this article in the Spring issue of Hills Conservation Network’s newsletter (the link goes to a PDF), and it resonated with us who want to save Sutro Forest’s habitat. Ecological destruction, whether from building and traffic, or from … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism
Tagged 1991 oakland fire, East Bay, hills conservation network, native plants, nativism
3 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest, Native Plants, and Ideology: Debate between a Climatologist and Charlie – Part III
This is part of a continuing series of conversations between Charlie, a US-based naturalist, and Gov Pavlicek, a climatologist in Europe (on our front-page comments section). We’re finding their contrasting worldviews interesting. For those interested in earlier exchanges, here’s Part I … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism
Tagged environment, mount sutro, native plants, nativism, unscientific
1 Comment
Mount Sutro Forest, Native Plants, and Ideology: Debate between a Climatologist and Charlie – Part II
In this post, we continue the conversation between Charlie and climatologist Gov Pavlicek. Gov responded to Charlie’s earlier comment. That discussion is here. GOV: “ECOLOGY” AND XENOPHOBIA From Gov: “Charlie, thanks for the thorough reply. I was astonished by the … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest, Native Plants, and Ideology: Debate between a Climatologist and Charlie – Part I
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hosting an interesting debate on our website, between US-based Charlie (who’s commented here before) and Gov Pavlicek , a climatologist from the Netherlands (NL). We think this conversation is interesting enough for its own … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism
Tagged eucalyptus, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, unscientific
3 Comments
Cats, Catbirds: Why the Smithsonian study doesn’t say what everyone thinks it does
There’s been a huge amount of publicity recently about a 2004 study, publicized by the highly-respected Smithsonian. It implies that cats are the main cause of death of songbirds, and has become a talking point for those advocating stronger measures … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Mount Sutro Stewards, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged birds, cat, catbird, mount sutro, smithsonian, smithsonian study, Sutro Forest
15 Comments
Habitat Destruction with Sutro Stewards
Around this time last year, Sutro Forest was alive with birdsong all day from dawn to late dusk. “We walked up into the Sutro Forest on a peaceful bird-filled evening,” we wrote in late February 2010. “A few outside noises … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Mount Sutro Stewards
Tagged birds, blackberry, eucalyptus, mt sutro stewards, Sutro Forest, Sutro Stewards, wildlife
7 Comments
Garlon, Natural Areas, and the City
San Francisco’s Department of the Environment (SF DOE) is our second line of protection against chemicals after the EPA; it regulates the use of pesticides on all city properties. We attended their monthly meeting yesterday, mainly because Lisa Wayne, the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, nativism
Tagged Garlon, Glen Canyon, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program
3 Comments
Glen Canyon Park and Garlon: Answering Jake Sigg
Recently, several people drew our attention to Glen Canyon and the planned spraying of Garlon 4 Ultra to kill the yellow oxalis flowers there. And someone sent in the notice seen here. Apparently, residents of areas nearby have been understandably upset … Continue reading
It’s Spring! It’s Twin Peaks! It’s toxic Garlon herbicide!
It’s spring again, it’s Garlon time! We recently published a picture taken near the reservoir. Now someone’s sent me these. This is a worker spraying Garlon 4 Ultra on Twin Peaks… wearing a protective suit — but without the required … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon
Tagged Garlon, herbicide, Twin Peaks
3 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest Ecosystem and Wildlife Habitat
We’ve talked earlier about how Sutro Forest works as a Cloud Forest, and why it’s always damp. Today, it’s Sutro Forest as an ecosystem and a habitat. UCSF recently had a scoping meeting for its Environmental Impact Review for their … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mount Sutro Stewards, UCSF
Tagged acacia, birds, blackberry, cloud forest, english ivy, eucalyptus, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, wildlife
19 Comments
UCSF, Mt Sutro Stewards, and the Fate of Sutro Forest
In an article about East Africa, conservationists WA Rodgers and ND Burgess spell out some of the difficulties faced in preserving coastal forests: the attitudes of the people. “At best the local inhabitants see their forest as a resource to … Continue reading
Pt Reyes Light, an Informed Arborist, and Eucalyptus Globulus
We saw this interesting article (reproduced here with permission) on the website/ blog Death of A Million Trees, whose tagline is Saving trees from needless destruction in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Pt Reyes Light is a Pulitzer Prize … Continue reading
Quirky Oaks: Parody of an anti-Eucalyptus Pamphlet
We’d never expected to come upon a well-researched tree article that made us laugh. This one from the HCN Newsletter cracked us up: It was riff on a widely-circulated but biased pamphlet on eucalyptus, and it was spot on. [Edited … Continue reading
Eucalyptus in San Francisco’s Urban Forest
One of the arborists who looked at Sutro Forest sent us this article, reprinted with the permission of its author. Written about San Francisco’s Glen Canyon, it was first published in 2009. Alma Hecht was formerly a volunteer with Friends … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus
Tagged eucalyptus, Glen Canyon, urban forest, Urban Forest Council of San Francisco
1 Comment
Sutro Forest: Blue Angels and Forest Sounds
This time last year, they’d appeared through the trees, as huge and unexpected as jet-powered flying dinosaurs. The Blue Angels were tough to photograph as they blasted by, but this was another year and another opportunity. A bike-rider passing by … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged blue angels, mount sutro, Sutro Forest
2 Comments
Something Like Avatar: Mt Sutro’s Networked Forest
What does the mysterious cloud forest on Mount Sutro have in common with the strange and wondrous forests of the movie Avatar? In that film, Pandora’s world encompasses huge old trees, vegetation that glows in the dark, and interconnected plants. … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged Avatar, eucalyptus, mount sutro, na'avi, Sutro Forest
11 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 