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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)
Category Archives: nativism
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
Comments Off on The San Francisco Forest Alliance
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: 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
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
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
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 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
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
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
SF NAP on Twin Peaks: Rainy Days and Roundup…
Rainy days and Roundup always make me sigh… This report is brought to you from the drenched slopes of Twin Peaks. And here’s another one… They’re putting the pesticide notices high and visible now, which is an improvement. Also, they’re … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged herbicide, native plants, Natural Areas Program, Roundup, Twin Peaks
3 Comments
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
Native Plants, Oxalis and the Futility of Garlon
Some days ago, in a comment on our post responding to Jake Sigg’s defense of Garlon, Wendy Poinsot said: Garlon is effective on oxalis and other broadleaf weeds like dandelion. Who wants a park full of south african oxalis? Not … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged native plants, Natural Areas Program, oxalis
8 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
More Garlon for Glen Canyon Park?
We’ve been observing the issue of pesticides at Glen Canyon Park at a remove; but here’s what we understand. The place falls under the Natural Areas Program (NAP), which plans to use Garlon, one of the most toxic herbicides San … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged Garlon, Glen Canyon, native plants, Natural Areas Program, Sutro Forest
2 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
Garlon in our Reservoir?
Someone sent us this picture, taken on 20th Jan 2011 at Twin Peaks. We were surprised, even though we’ve grown accustomed to seeing notices of toxic pesticides being used all over “Natural Areas.” WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Garlon [ETA: … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged Garlon, Natural Areas Program, Roundup
6 Comments
Native Plants and Pesticides: Glyphosate at Lake Merced
It was inevitable: a walk into a Native Plant area (aka Natural Areas Program areas) yielded yet another new pesticide notice. Last time, Imazapyr at Stern Grove. This time, Aquamaster at Lake Merced, targeting ludwigia (water-primrose). Aquamaster is a pesticide … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged native plants, Natural Areas Program, wildlife
2 Comments
Twin Peaks: Fall Weather, Roundup and Garlon
Twin Peaks in the Fall. The blaze of wildflowers in the spring is a distant memory. The fog blows in, but unlike the verdant Sutro Forest, where the trees harvest its water and the understory and duff hold in the … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged native plants, san francisco, Twin Peaks
2 Comments
Native Plants, Chaparral: Conversation with ‘Charlie’
From time to time, people come by to comment and engage with the information on this website. We appreciate that. ‘Charlie’ commented on several posts, but this comment was long and complex enough that it deserved a separate post. ******************* … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism, Sutro Forest "Fire Risk", UCSF
Tagged chaparral, mount sutro, san francisco, Sutro Forest, wildlife
62 Comments
The Failed Experiment at Tank Hill
Someone emailed us to ask why UCSF were bothering with demonstration projects, when there was the obvious example of Tank Hill. “Trees were cut down, natives planted and died,” said the email. What did they achieve? So we looked into … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, nativism, Neighborhood impact
Tagged birds, butterfly, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program, Tank Hill
11 Comments
Report: UCSF’s Agenda Planning Meeting #2
This evening we had the second of three scheduled agenda planning meetings. Those present were the usual agenda-planners, with the addition of Walter Caplan (President, Forest Knolls Neighborhood Organization) who had been outside the country at the previous one. This … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Meetings, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism, Neighborhood impact, UCSF
Tagged mount sutro, Sutro Forest, UCSF
2 Comments
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 