Category Archives: eucalyptus

information relating to eucalypts

Tree-Thoughts at 125 Years

Posted on August 13, 2022 by webmaster

Someone sent us this charming, incisive, bitter-sweet graphic about a eucalyptus tree. This tree, such an important part of the ecosystem – a shelter for birds, a splendid carbon sink, a catcher of fog – ponders its purpose in life. … Continue reading →

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Why Urban Forests Can’t be “Native”

Posted on January 7, 2022 by webmaster

This article is republished with permission and minor edits from Conservation Sense and Nonsense, an environmental blog that considers current ecological topics including “native plant restorations.” We are publishing it here because we think the opposition to eucalyptus by nativist … Continue reading →

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

Two Nativist Myths: Eucalyptus Kills Other Plants; Mutually Exclusive Relationships are Common in Nature

Posted on February 12, 2018 by webmaster

We re-publish with permission (and added emphasis) an article from  MillionTrees.me, a website that fights the unnecessary felling of trees in the Bay Area. The article, a report from someone who attended the February 2018 meeting of the California Native … Continue reading →

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Season’s Greetings!

Posted on December 12, 2017 by webmaster

It’s the holiday season again, and we’d like to wish all our readers and supporters all the best, for this season and for the year ahead. We’d like to celebrate with this quiet painting by artist Brian Stewart, showing bees … Continue reading →

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Monarch Butterfly at Twin Peaks – Oct 2017

Posted on October 9, 2017 by webmaster

A few days ago, a viewer watching the planes rehearse for Fleet Week spotted a different kind of aerial phenomenon: Monarch butterflies, fluttering around over Twin Peaks. “I was driving by Twin Peaks,” they wrote, “and paused to watch the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, UCSF | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

How Many Trees in Sutro Forest? And What Will be Left?

Posted on February 23, 2017 by webmaster

Mount Sutro is a very difficult site. Its soils are shallow, its rocks unstable. It’s very windy. Few trees survive those conditions. Nevertheless, the eucalyptus forest has naturalized there for over a century – nearly 125 years now – and … Continue reading →

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

Old Trees Trap More Carbon and Fight Climate Change

Posted on February 16, 2017 by webmaster

The older a tree grows, the more carbon dioxide it grabs out of the air and sequesters, thus fighting climate change. Cutting down these large old trees releases this carbon back into the atmosphere. An article published in the Nature … Continue reading →

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

“Are Eucalyptus Trees Going to Kill Us All?” Jan 27, 2017, San Rafael, CA

Posted on January 26, 2017 by webmaster

If you’re interested in a spirited discussion about eucalyptus, there’s going to be an interesting event in San Rafael with TreeSpirit founder Jack Gescheidt. CLICK TO ENLARGE Are Eucalyptus Trees Going To Kill Us All?! So shouldn’t we kill them … Continue reading →

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UCSF’s New Draft Plan for Sutro Forest – Aug 2016

Posted on August 19, 2016 by webmaster

UCSF presented its new Draft Plan for Sutro Forest at the Third Technical Advisory Committee meeting on Aug 18, 2016. This plan will be implemented in three phases: Year 1-5, Year 6-10, and Year 11-20. However, it is heavily front-loaded, … Continue reading →

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“New Battle over Managing Sutro Forest Trees” – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted on June 28, 2016 by webmaster

Someone sent us a really interesting article about Sutro Forest in a recent San Francisco Chronicle (25th June, 2016). A MYSTICAL PLACE Titled “New battle over managing Sutro Forest trees,” the article is by well-known journalist Carl Nolte. It starts … Continue reading →

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

More Sad News From Sutro Forest

Posted on January 21, 2016 by webmaster

More trees are being cut down in Sutro Forest, and machinery is being used that could damage the roots even of the trees left standing. We were driving down Medical Center Way today and saw machines and crews at work … Continue reading →

Posted in deforestation, Environment, eucalyptus | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Sutro Forest East Ridge Trees Being Felled Now

Posted on December 21, 2015 by webmaster

This post is to let our readers know that trees are being felled right now in Sutro Forest, and also that UCSF has formed a committee to advise on managing the forest, which will meet for the first time on … Continue reading →

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Monarch Butterfly Season with Child Art

Posted on November 16, 2015 by webmaster

One of the wonderful things eucalyptus trees do is provide wildlife habitat. In particular, they are crucial to supporting the Western Migration of the the Monarch butterflies, by providing a roost for the butterflies to spend the winter. A study … Continue reading →

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Sierra Club “Corrects” the Record – Fails

Posted on November 6, 2015 by webmaster

The Sierra Club shocked the environmental community, including many of its own members, when it not only failed to oppose the horrible East Bay plan to cut down hundreds of thousands of trees, but actually sued FEMA to cut down … Continue reading →

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Sierra Club Alienates its Would-be Allies

Posted on November 1, 2015 by webmaster

Most people think of the Sierra Club as an organization battling for trees and nature, for forested lands like the one in this picture. They believe it’s fighting to save the environment and opposing the use of pesticides and other … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon | Tagged | 1 Comment

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 →

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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 →

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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

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 →

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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 →

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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

Understanding Eucalyptus in the Bay Area – Dr Joe R. McBride

Posted on July 12, 2014 by webmaster

This article has been republished from the  website of the San Francisco Forest Alliance, with permission. (Edited to add: A somewhat different selection of illustrations has been used.) Dr. Joe McBride of UC Berkeley spoke at the Commonwealth Club in … Continue reading →

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

UCSF Sutro Forest Update

Posted on March 6, 2014 by webmaster

UCSF has decided to wait on Mount Sutro Forest. For now, all plans are suspended except for routine maintenance. We attended UCSF’s Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting this evening. (UCSF has a sort of citizen’s panel that is supposed to … Continue reading →

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

UCSF Meeting Report – 11 Feb 2014

Posted on February 12, 2014 by webmaster

UCSF had called this meeting to discuss, not Mount Sutro Forest, but their Long Range Development Plan. However, Craig Dawson, Executive Director of the Sutro Stewards sent out a call for people to attend and talk about Mt Sutro, apparently … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides, Mount Sutro Stewards, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, UCSF | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

John Muir, Eucalyptus, and Happy New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2014 by webmaster

On January 2, 1911, John Muir – founder of the Sierra Club and the man who saved Yosemite – sent out this greeting card. It has a painting of a eucalyptus tree, and a poem about the tree: “From eucalyptus … Continue reading →

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The Plants that Monarch Butterflies Need

Posted on December 24, 2013 by webmaster

The famed and eponymous natural bridges at Natural Bridges State Beach at Santa Cruz no longer exist; a 1994 winter storm destroyed the last one. But no matter: what we recently went there to see was the over-wintering Monarch butterflies … Continue reading →

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

“Invasive” Plants can Save Native Wildlife

Posted on December 15, 2013 by webmaster

We recently came upon this article by author Toby Hemenway, on his blog Pattern Literacy.  Written from the point of view of a permaculturist, it responds to nativist objections that the permaculture community plants non-native or even “invasive” species. Since … Continue reading →

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The Making of the Mt Sutro Tree Spirit Project

Posted on July 11, 2013 by webmaster

Yesterday, we published a picture made in Sutro Forest for the Tree Spirit Project, which creates art photographs of sylvan nudes to draw attention to endangered forests and trees. (Click here to go to the Tree Spirit page for Mount … Continue reading →

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