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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
- 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
- Destruction of Sutro Forest Likely to Accelerate
- Season’s Greetings – 2020
- UCSF Parnassus: December 2020 Meeting Report
- UCSF Plans More Damage to Sutro Forest
- Trees on Clarendon Avenue Felled
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: Natural areas Program
Mission Blue Butterfly on Twin Peaks 2016 Update: Imports from San Bruno Continue
The ongoing project to establish the Mission Blue Butterfly (an endangered subspecies of butterfly) on San Francisco’s Twin Peaks is, well, ongoing. On the basis of the most recent information we received under the Sunshine Act, the Twin Peaks population … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program
Tagged Garlon 4 Ultra, mission blue butterfly, Twin Peaks
Comments Off on Mission Blue Butterfly on Twin Peaks 2016 Update: Imports from San Bruno Continue
SF Forest Alliance Sent 1700 Signatures to Mayor Lee!
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 environment, Natural Areas Program
Comments Off on SF Forest Alliance Sent 1700 Signatures to Mayor Lee!
The ROSE Disappointment
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
Sutro Forest in January 2014
The unusual winter weather, with bright sunny days and hardly any rain, has drawn a lot of people to Sutro Forest. We’ve been up there a couple of times recently, and found an unusually large number of joggers, bicycle-riders, and … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, Hiking, Natural areas Program
Tagged environment, eucalyptus, mount sutro, Sutro Forest
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SF RPD 2013 Herbicide Use – A Correction
Recently, we published our analysis of the San Francisco Natural Areas Program (NAP)’s use of pesticide, and compared it with the rest of SF Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD) . We said that NAP’s pesticide use had risen in 2013, … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged environment, Greenmatch EX, Natural Areas Program
1 Comment
Please Sign SF Forest Alliance’s NEW Petition to Save Natural Areas
This post is republished from SFForest.org (with permission). The Natural Areas Program controls about a quarter of Sutro Forest, and has recently used pesticide there. Meanwhile, UCSF has said they will not use pesticide in the area they control. San … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program
Tagged environment, Natural Areas Program
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SF’s Natural Areas Program – More Pesticide in 2013
Edited to Add: We’ve corrected the comparison between NAP and other SFRPD herbicide use to account for a reclassification of Greenmatch EX, a lemongrass-based herbicide. Details HERE. Even as we celebrate UCSF’s decision not to use pesticides in Sutro Forest, … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged aminopyralid, Garlon, glyphosate, herbicide, imazapyr, nativism, Natural Areas Program, Roundup, triclopyr
6 Comments
‘Natural’ Areas Program Using Pesticide in Sutro Forest
No sooner had UCSF announced it would not use pesticides than the Natural Areas Program (NAP) suddenly decided that it needed to use imazapyr in SF RPD’s part of Sutro Forest. The Forest is mostly owned by UCSF, but 19 … Continue reading
War on Trees in the Bay Area
In a world where climate change is a reality, and trees our only defense (aside from actually reducing carbon emissions), it would seem to be a no-brainer that preserving existing trees would be environmentally important. The carbon sequestration and storage … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged deforestation, environment, eucalyptus
2 Comments
The Importance of Eucalyptus
It’s Earth Day today, and we’d like to talk about the importance of Eucalyptus trees. Surprisingly, even some people who identify as environmentalists have no idea of the far-reaching value of these trees in our environment. San Francisco has a … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mount Sutro Stewards, nativism, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged environment, eucalyptus, trees
9 Comments
Save the Forests! Meeting – 21 April 2013
Jointly with San Francisco Forest Alliance, we’re holding a meeting about the planned tree-cutting – not just on Mount Sutro, but also on Mount Davidson and elsewhere in San Francisco. It’s on Sunday, April 21, 2013 from 4.30 p.m. to … Continue reading
Bucketloads of Herbicides Coming to Sutro Forest
We’ve often praised UCSF here for keeping Mount Sutro forest pesticide free. No pesticides have been used there since 2008. We’ve said things like “This may be the last pesticide-free wild land in the city. (Thanks, UCSF!)” On the other … Continue reading
Mission Blue Butterfly – Uncertainty Saga
Regular readers of this website know that we’ve been following the Natural Areas Programs attempts to reintroduce the Mission Blue Butterfly to Twin Peaks. We’ve just obtained the latest report from San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept (SFRPD). It’s very … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged environment, mission blue butterfly, Natural Areas Program, Twin Peaks, wildlife
4 Comments
SF’s Natural Areas Program Uses Even More Pesticides
This article was reprinted from sffforest.net with minor changes and additions. Sutro Forest may be the only pesticide-free wild land in San Francisco – but that could change this year. ————————- The 2012 final data are in, and it’s official: … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged aminopyralid, aquamaster, Garlon, imazapyr, pesticide, UCSF
8 Comments
Glen Canyon Park: The Tree-Cutting Started
We’ve been following the situation in Glen Canyon Park at this site for some time now. In a nutshell: Major changes are planned for Glen Canyon, which until a couple of years ago was a bucolic treasure of a park. … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, Natural areas Program, Neighborhood impact
Tagged environment, eucalyptus, Glen Canyon Park, native plants, trees
1 Comment
“Functional, Beautiful Ecosystems Should Be Left Alone”
We received this letter from one of our readers, “R.R.”. It’s republished here with permission. ——————————— To Whom it May Concern: I am appalled at the planned destruction of thousands of trees by UCSF and the SFNAP [San Francisco Natural … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged environment, mount sutro, Sutro Forest, trees, UCSF
2 Comments
Speaking for Glen Canyon’s Trees
We received a report (and opinion-piece) from a supporter of Anastasia Glikshtern in her appeal regarding the Glen Canyon project. [The background is HERE: Saving the Trees of Glen Canyon Park.] While the appeal was denied, it was clear that … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, nativism, Natural areas Program
1 Comment
Saving the Trees of Glen Canyon Park
Glen Canyon Park is one of San Francisco’s jewels. It’s a long narrow tree-filled canyon, including the “owl tree” where a Great Horned Owl has raised its young many years in succession, and two natural bee trees. Of its 70 … Continue reading
San Francisco’s Natural Areas: 2012 A Record Year for Pesticide Use
If, like us, you hoped that 2012 might be the year that San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program (NAP) proved us wrong about its escalating pesticide use — it’s not happening. That ship sailed in September. Readers of this site will … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged glyphosate, herbicide, imazapyr, Natural Areas Program
2 Comments
Insects Don’t Prefer Native Plants
New data, but old theories? One argument that Native Plant Advocates make for their attempts to convert San Francisco’s open spaces to native plants (despite the habitat destruction and pesticide use) is that it’s better for wildlife. In fact, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged environment, insects, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program
1 Comment
Measuring Pesticide Use by San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program
As readers of this site will know, we’ve been following the use of pesticides in Natural Areas. At present, four pesticides are mainly used by the Natural Areas Program (NAP): Glyphosate (trade-names Roundup or Aquamaster); Triclopyr (Garlon and its variants); … Continue reading
Pesticides in San Francisco’s Natural Areas: Rising Volumes
Some months ago, we had written about San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program and its escalating pesticide use. The graph below shows the number of applications of pesticides in the years from 2008-2011. The San Francisco Forest Alliance, an organization dedicated … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged aquamaster, Garlon, glyphosate, herbicide, imazapyr, Natural Areas Program, pesticide, Roundup
4 Comments
Trees and Income Inequality
Many of us intuitively associate trees and “nice” areas. Realtors know this; if a house for sale is on a tree-lined street, the ad always says so. In 2008, researchers looking into the question found that the demand for trees … Continue reading
Posted in deforestation, Environment, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, Natural areas Program, UCSF
Tagged mount sutro, Natural Areas Program, trees
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San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program Ignores Breeding Birds
We’d written earlier about chainsaws in Glen Canyon Park, even though spring is the breeding season for birds and animals, a time when trees and thickets should be left undisturbed. [Click HERE to read that article, Chainsaws in the Nesting … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Natural areas Program
Tagged birds, eucalyptus, Glen Canyon, Natural Areas Program, wildlife
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Glen Canyon Park: Chainsaws in the Nesting Season
The nesting season for birds is in full swing. San Francisco’s mild winter and recent rains have provided a window for building and breeding, and they’ve grabbed it. The birding reports are full of lovely stories, from humming-birds to Great … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism, Natural areas Program
Tagged birds, Glen Canyon, habitat, Natural Areas Program, wildlife
5 Comments
Why Low Dose Pesticides are Still Hazards
When we speak up against the Natural Area Program’s frequent pesticide use, its supporters frequently tell us that – compared with say commercial agriculture – the Natural Areas Program (NAP) uses small amounts of toxic chemicals. “The dose makes the … Continue reading
Posted in Herbicides, Natural areas Program
Tagged endocrine disruptors, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Natural Areas Program, toxic
1 Comment
The Murdered Tree on Mt Davidson
[Edited to Add: This tree finally went down on April 8 or 9, 2013, following strong winds in the Bay Area.] It’s visible for miles around, the dramatic dead tree high on the brow of Mt Davidson. That’s the Murdered … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, nativism, Natural areas Program, Neighborhood impact
Tagged Mount Davidson, nativism, Natural Areas Program
8 Comments
Mt Sutro Forest – Beautiful Evocation of a Lost Tree
We were sent this clip by videographer and artist Lori Ambrosio, who visited the “Kill-trees Trail” (connecting Stanyan x 17th to Medical Center Way). We thought it was a lovely bitter-sweet evocation of the trees that were there – only … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 