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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)
Tag Archives: nativism
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
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
SF Natural Areas Program, Roundup and Birth Defects
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
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
Increasing Biodiversity
The New Scientist, a well-reputed science magazine, ran an editorial recently headed, “Let’s put an end to biosentimentality.” It argued that “While a few introduced species have wreaked havoc, some biologists argue that most increase biodiversity, both directly and by … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest
Tagged eucalyptus, eucalyptus myths, nativism, unscientific
1 Comment
Garlon in Our Watershed
Garlon is one of the two pesticides that UCSF proposed to use to prevent re-sprouting of felled eucalyptus, blackberry and vines. It is regularly used on Twin Peaks, one of the highest points in the city. We should mention that … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged Garlon, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Sutro Forest, Twin Peaks
22 Comments
Srsly, Ms. Feinstein?
When ten thousand trees are cut down on 400 acres of steep hillsides, it stands to reason it’ll have a major environmental impact. Four “fire hazard mitigation” proposals from UC Berkeley, Oakland, and East Bay Regional Park District plan to … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, nativism
Tagged Environmental Impact Report, FEMA misuse, fire risk?, nativism, sequester carbon
2 Comments
Nativism vs the Environment
When most people think of preserving natural areas, they envision saving green growing things from encroachment by parking lots and housing development. Nativists focus on a different agenda – removing non-native plants and substituting natives. What’s wrong with that? Several … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged eucalyptus, eucalyptus myths, herbicide, native plants, nativism, trees, wildlife
10 Comments
Euca-phobia and Fire Myths
This is an extensive excerpt from an article by Peter Gray Scott on the subject of the myths surrounding Eucalyptus and fire [with emphasis added]. It is quoted here with permission. —— One by one, myths about eucalyptus are pitched … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, nativism
Tagged eucalyptus, eucalyptus myths, fire risk?, nativism, unscientific
10 Comments
“Nature in the City”: Tree-huggers vs Tree-killers
Recently, we posted a reader’s note about a talk from the organization called ‘Nature in the City’ (NC) on the “urban forest.” (Those are NC’s quote-marks; they apparently don’t believe in urban forests). NC is the parent organization of the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, eucalyptus, nativism
Tagged birds, eucalyptus, eucalyptus myths, native plants, nativism, nature in the city, puzzled, tree killers, unscientific, wildlife
11 Comments
Erroneous “Facts” from “Nature in the City”
A few days ago, under the auspices of Shaping San Francisco, ‘Nature in the City’ (NC) offered a public talk on the “urban forest” (their quote-marks, they don’t appear to believe in urban forests). NC is the parent organization of … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Meetings, nativism
Tagged josiah clarke, mt sutro stewards, nativism, nature in the city, trees
4 Comments
Native Plants and Neurotoxins
It appears that Native Areas in San Francisco are again linked to toxic herbicides. We’ve posted earlier about Twin Peaks and Garlon/ Roundup. This time, it’s Imazapyr in Stern Grove. Imazapyr is sold under the brand name of “Habitat” when … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides, nativism
Tagged herbicide, imazapyr, native plants, nativism, san francisco
11 Comments
Twin Peaks in Bloom
Twin Peaks is covered with wildflowers. Right now, it’s mainly the white clusters of sweet alyssum (Lobularia)… But the yellow oxalis (oxalis bes-caprae) is beginning to flower, too, and soon there’ll be drifts of it all over the mountain… [ETA … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Herbicides: Roundup, Garlon, nativism
Tagged Garlon, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Roundup, Twin Peaks
1 Comment
Tree-friendly? New York Times vs SF Chronicle
Yesterday’s Bay Area section of the New York Times carried an article on trees that was both sad and refreshing. Sad, because it talked of tree-destruction – which seems to have become a California Thing. Refreshing, because it actually appeared … Continue reading
Global Warming & Quarter-mile relocations
Someone drew my attention to an article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle: “Global Warming to Keep Animals, Plants On Move.” The story was about a study from a scientific team from Cal Academy of Sciences, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Institute … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, nativism
Tagged climate change, eucalyptus, global warming, native plants, nativism, sequester carbon, trees, wildlife
1 Comment
Stewardship of a Forest
Two weeks ago, I visited the forest surrounding the Meiji shrine, in Tokyo, Japan. As with the Sutro Cloud Forest, I was struck by the wonderful old trees growing in the heart of a city, and wanted to find out … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, Mt Sutro Cloud Forest, nativism, Neighborhood impact, UCSF
Tagged birds, eucalyptus, Honda Seiroku, mount sutro, native plants, nativism, Seiroku Honda, sutro, Sutro Forest, trails, UCSF, wildlife
11 Comments
Cutting Down Trees
Someone brought over the November/ December 09 copy of the Sierra Club Magazine. It fell open to the centerfold. There in a big blue box and large letters it said: ————- “It’s cool because people are cutting down trees instead … Continue reading
Posted in eucalyptus, nativism, UCSF
Tagged mount sutro, native plants, nativism, sierra club, Sutro Forest, trees
1 Comment
Slate magazine on Invasives
Someone sent me a link to a thoughtful article in Slate magazine called “Don’t Sweat the Invasion” by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow. The author starts out with the example of tamarisk, also known as salt-cedar; it’s an “exotic invasive” that spreads along … Continue reading
Posted in nativism
Tagged eucalyptus, mount sutro, native plants, nativism, sutro, Sutro Forest, trees, wildlife
1 Comment
Volunteers, pizza, and $30/hour
On the new improved web-page about Mt Sutro, UCSF has included some information on how they work with the Mount Sutro Stewards, a volunteer nativist group (responsible for the Native Garden at the summit), which builds and maintains the trails … Continue reading
Museum-ification – Pt 1
Someone sent me an interesting paper on Museumification of urban nature, by Paul Gobster, published in “Nature and Culture” journal in Autumn 2007. He talks of how “parks as postcards” interfere with peoples’ natural interaction with parks, and its particular … Continue reading
New Scientist: Nativism and “Message Enhancement”
An article in the latest New Scientist, a well-reputed science magazine suggests that misguided nativism is doing more harm than good, in particular by misusing resources. Titled “Living with Aliens” in the print edition, and “Immigrant species aren’t all bad” … Continue reading
A Rebuttal to UCSF’s Response to FEMA
This is an edited version of the letter sent to FEMA regarding UCSF’s response to their questions. Emphasis has been added. ——————————– [We were] quite surprised to read the details of UCSF’s response August 16 response to FEMA’s questions of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged FEMA misuse, fire risk?, mount sutro, nativism, sutro, Sutro Forest, UCSF
Comments Off on A Rebuttal to UCSF’s Response to FEMA
In the News: UCSF; Tree Planting; Native Herbicides
We’re starting a new feature here: In The News. We plan to post summaries of relevant news items (or other pieces from the internet), and comment on them. SAVING FORESTS IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT CLIMATE REMEDIES This article … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Elizabeth Blackburn, Garlon, herbicide, native plants, nativism, Nobel prize, Roundup, san francisco, sequester carbon, trees, UCSF
9 Comments
Peter Scott’s article on Native Plant Restoration
We were sent this article, with a request to re-publish it on this website. The author, who wrote this in the context of the East Bay, kindly gave permission. Emphasis has been added. ———— NATIVE PLANT RESTORATION: IT LOOKS A … Continue reading
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 