This article is slightly modified and republished from a post on forestknolls.info UCSF is going ahead with plans to add three new trails to Sutro Forest. While we don’t object to trails as such, they all cost us trees – … Continue reading
Fall in San Francisco brings uncertain weather – (welcome) rainy days mixed in with days of beautiful crisp clarity (also welcome). The day before Thanksgiving was a picture-book afternoon, and Sutro Forest beckoned. We went up perhaps an hour before … Continue reading
The welcome little storm that passed through a few days ago watered the forest, but it wasn’t actually raining on February 13th. So when someone emailed us to say they wanted to see the forest – for the first time … Continue reading
About ten days ago, we went up into Mount Sutro Forest. There’d been a string of sunny days, the closest to summer that San Francisco gets. The trails were dry and last month’s puddles were gone. Unusually, there’s no mud. … Continue reading
We received this letter recently, and publish it here with permission. I’m a solitary hiker who loves San Francisco’s beautiful parks and am concerned about all the overdone enthusiasm lately for baring our forests so that there will be mostly … Continue reading
Spring in the Sutro Forest is lovely. Where the canopy is largely unbroken, the sunlight streams through the trees with the filtered light particular to forests. Last week, flowers bloomed in the lower reaches of the mountain: the pinkish-purple Robert … Continue reading
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
It’s not just Sutro Forest. Native plant interests threaten trees throughout the city, and in particular, in San Francisco’s other significant century-old forest: Mt Davidson. A favorite area for the residents of Miraloma Park, the Significant Natural Areas Management Plan … 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
WHEN I first heard about San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program (SF NAP) some years ago, I was charmed. Over 1000 acres of city-owned land would be left to Nature, more wild and free than the orderly, gardened lawns and playgrounds … Continue reading
Sunday evening, we were in the forest. We started at Stanyan x 17th, going up the (Stanyan) “Kill-trees Trail.” BEAUTIFUL — AND SLUSHY It’s been very foggy in the last few weeks, and you can see the effect of the … Continue reading
Readers of this site may remember that a few months ago, we took down a number of maps after we received a strongly-worded legal letter. We had assumed they were in the public domain (they were based on city/ UCSF … Continue reading
The new trail connecting Stanyan (just above 17th Avenue) with Medical Center Way opened a few days ago. Though still marred by the stumps of dead trees and amputated shrubs, it provides better access from the Cole Valley side of … Continue reading
Up in the forest this afternoon, we encountered an unusually large number of visitors. Good Friday holiday, maybe? Anyway, in under an hour we saw: Two hikers; three dogs with six people; and five guys riding their cycles. (It’s always … 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
We were delighted to receive this lovely picture from hiker Vickie McNamee, together with a nice note: We had the most beautiful hike today (Saturday, Nov 27). Thank you! Here’s a picture you are welcome to post. Vickie Thanks, Vickie! … 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’ve been talking about the beauty of this forest, especially on a foggy day – and it occurred to us that hikers less familiar with it might want better information. This article has been reprinted from Mount Sutro Forest. [Edited … Continue reading
At the last agenda planning meeting, one of the issues raised was managing hazardous trees near homes. A Forest Knolls resident of Crestmont Drive pointed out that neither the City nor UCSF were accepting responsibility for hazardous trees (some dead, … Continue reading
We posted recently about the destruction of the forest understory along the South Ridge trail, near where it meets the Nike Rd. Now we hear that this isn’t the only area where habitat has been destroyed along the trail. Areas … Continue reading
We were up in the forest this evening for a bit. Here’s what we saw: 1. The Chain link fence on Pad#4 in the Aldea campus has been erected, complete with the three gates promised (one is big enough to … Continue reading
I attended a meeting called by Parks and Rec this evening, to discuss opening access to the forest at 17th and Stanyan in Cole Valley. This the black dotted line in the map below. [ETA: The map was distributed at … Continue reading
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
Fire Hazard maps are critical to substantiating that there even is a hazard. The maps associated with this Plan don’t achieve that. TWO MAPS THAT DON’T MATCH UCSF’s 19 October presentation included a map called City-Wide Wildfire Hazards. (Page 18 … Continue reading
Nature Conservancy short video about carbon sequestration
Mount Sutro Forest That Was 