We attended UCSF’s Long Range Development Plan meeting this evening. It’s due 2014, and gives UCSF a road-map through 2035. Most of the discussion focused on how UCSF should get back under their space ceiling, a limit they had decided … Continue reading
At a public meeting of the Community Advisory Group on 4 June 2012, UCSF’s Barbara Bagot-Lopez announced that the project to fell trees on four “demonstration”plots would be postponed, probably to the Fall of 2013. (Those are the yellow areas … Continue reading
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
“We saw a bobcat today in Mt. Sutro by the Aldea Center,” commented reader RM on MntSutro.com on 10 May 2012. We were fascinated. [Edited to replace the public domain picture with one the reader sent us – taken in … Continue reading
We were up in Mt Sutro Forest a couple of days ago, the day after Valentine’s Day. The forest looked appropriately romantic. A number of cherry trees were in bloom with tiny white flowers, like this one near the entry … Continue reading
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
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
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
[ETA (1 Aug 2011): We’ve just received a recent update from UCSF. It appears the timeline has been pushed out. If the projects are approved, they will start felling trees in August 2012. This Google Map shows the forest. (You … Continue reading
We’ve been seeing the new pesticide notices up on Twin Peaks, the ones we wrote about earlier here. So today, when we saw three more (and there may have been others) we assumed they were more of the same. They … Continue reading
I (as in I, the webmaster) recently got a legal letter by email from a major law firm representing the San Francisco Parks Trust “and its partner, Sutro Stewards.” (I can’t publish the letter here as the law firm denied … Continue reading
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
Last evening, UCSF held its scoping meeting for the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). They plan to finish the Draft EIR in spring, in time to start felling trees on the South Ridge (above Forest Knolls neighborhood) by September 2011. This … Continue reading
Some months ago, Friends and Neighbors of the Mount Sutro Cloud Forest met with Senior Vice Chancellor John Plotts and followed up with a counter-proposal for the management of the forest, focusing on preserving its unique Cloud Forest ecosystem and … Continue reading
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
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Someone who’d been walking on the South Ridge Trail loop recently sent us these photographs of stumps in the middle of the pathway. “If UCSF and the Mt Sutro Stewards insist on cutting down trees, at least they could do … Continue reading
Here’s an extract from a message from UCSF: “Next Steps: EIR Scoping Meeting and Initial Study An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) scoping meeting for the UCSF Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve Management Project will be held: Monday, January 10, 2011, … Continue reading
We were not aware of the existence of the “Parnassus CAG Action Team” – a sub-committee of the UCSF Community Advisory Group (CAG) – until now. This meeting was run by Craig Dawson (Mt Sutro Stewards) and Kevin Hart, a … Continue reading
We received this message from one of the neighbor organizations under the heading: ————————————————————————————————————————– Announcing: mt. sutro stewards / UCSF update meeting MEETING: UCSF PCAT Meeting MONDAY, November 8, 7:00 pm UCSF Parnassus Library, 530 Parnassus Avenue Lange Room, 5th … Continue reading
Someone sent us a paper published May 2010 in the journal, Chemical Research in Toxicology. It linked glyphosate to birth defects in vertebrates. We’d like people who have assumed that Roundup’s problems come mainly from its surfactant POEA to take … Continue reading
As we said in an earlier post, we asked two arborists to look at the Mount Sutro Forest and give us a report. Jocelyn Cohen, a Certified Arborist, holds a seat on the Urban Forest Council for the City of … Continue reading
Someone sent me a link to an interesting article about Blackwater, the well-known defense contracting firm in the Iraq war (now called Xe Services LLC). They’ve diversified into corporate Intelligence. Said The Nation article by Jeremy Scahill: “Over the past … Continue reading
UCSF’s building a new community center in the Aldea Student Housing area. There’s nothing especially wrong with the building, a practical-looking structure that’s going where a student residence used to be. [ETA Aug 2011: Here’s a picture of the completed … Continue reading
Someone sent us a link to an article about Roundup by Caroline Cox, a scientist who leads the pesticide research at Center for Environmental Health. Titled “Why You Shouldn’t Use Roundup (Or Trust Its Labels),” it’s one of the most … Continue reading
There’s a story that Ishi, the last of the Yahi tribe of Yana native Americans used to wander Mount Sutro Forest in the early part of the century. His tribe was massacred, and having nowhere to go, he wandered into … Continue reading
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
Nature Conservancy short video about carbon sequestration
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 