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Nature in the City News
In the Key of Bee
The April issue of Bay Nature magazine is out now and features an article about the Green Hairstreak Corridor Project, written by Nature in the City steering committee member Josiah Clark, and a brief article about Yerba Buena Island and the Habitat Management Plan being prepared.
The issue also includes:
- an inset called "Transit to Trails" mapping Bay Area outdoor recreation areas that are accessible via public transportation. (If you don't have a subscription, we have these available at NTC.)
- an article about creating habitat and community at Mori Point, home to the threatened red-legged frog and endangered San Francisco garter snake. See below for more information on Restoring Sharp Park (adjacent to Mori Point) and saving these beautiful creatures.
- the cover article which introduces the local, native bees of the Bay Area. See our website for a podcast of the recent NTC TALK, "Bees in the City."
Springtime Abundance
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Blennosperma nanum or "yellow carpet" |
Bayview Hill, February 25:
"We found another occurrence of Saxifraga californica. It is in the Bayview hotspot... Which is the only known occurrence of Blennosperma nanum in the city. In this area is also Amsinckia menziesii intermedia, Collinsia multicolor, Galium porrigens, Festuca californica (12-15 plants), Clarkia rubicunda, Delphinium decorum, Aster radulinus, Ribes menziesii, Rosa gymnocarpa, and many more species that are more common. There is one each of Ribes and Rosa. All these are either rare in the city, or sometimes the only occurrence.
In the moist drainage originating at the entrance to the radio property and flowing down past the old tower base is Deschampsia cespitosa, Perideridia kelloggii, and Cardamine californica integrifolia. The Cardamine needs to be singled out for mention, as it occurs as a dense groundcover creeping through the grasses and forbs. It is the only time I have known it to grow in this manner, and it is truly remarkable. It is strung out for about 60-70 feet, in a 20-foot wide swathe. Again, nowhere have I seen it grow in this manner and over such a large expanse of ground.
The sighted Saxifragas were few, and may be on the verge of winking out. They were in the midst of tall weedy grasses and the embrace of sheep sorrel. I would like to return to the area April 29 to start eradication of sheep sorrel, which is the chief threat to the area. There are whole areas inside the fence where there are almost no invasive plants, and the natives are tight and chock-a-block, resisting invasion. - Jake Sigg"
McLaren Park Butterflies, March 25:
"Late March, the more and more I survey our county, seems to be the time when thing get rocking with the butterflies. 14 species today in McLaren.
Monster Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) movement -which reportedly started in Southern California a few days ago and hit our county around the 18th. The very cool thing about this is there is a California Tortoiseshell (Nympalis californica) emigration at the same time.I parked myself at lunch in the Sunnydale turn-about and counted 92 Painted Ladies in 25 minutes.
Other things seen: Anise Swallowtail (13), Orange Sulphurs (4), Cabbage Whites (20), W.C. Lady (12), American Lady (2), Tortoiseshells (15), Red Admirals (6), Field Crescent (1), Buckeye (1), Acmon Blue (4), Echo Blue (1), Calif. Ringlets (24). The only skipper about the city now I've seen: Common Checkered (14). - Liam O'Brien"
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Green Hairstreak Workparty, March 13 Photo by Josiah Clark |
Green Hairstreaks Have Emerged, March 26:
"I counted seven freshly-emerged 'greenies' (Stuart Weiss' term for C. dumerorum) on Rocky Outcrop today. The onshore flow had picked up and they were hunkered down on the Buckwheat, or in the leyward cracks and crevices. No doubt there were others, just hard to count in the wind. - Liam O'Brien"
Focus on Rarities: San Francisco Spring Wildflower Trips
The Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), Nature in the City’s closest organizational colleague, has been saving nature in the city for several decades now. Under the leadership of a very active Board of Directors, they have been instrumental in saving, stewarding, and ultimately conserving San Francisco natural areas.In addition to their weekly Wednesday work parties and monthly lecture programs, each spring they make a special effort to take locals out on field trips to witness the city’s rich natural heritage as it still exists in our significant natural resource areas (natural areas).
Next Saturday, Jake Sigg will lead a field trip to Duncan-Castro Open Space, a classic postcard size city natural area sandwiched within the built environment. Meet at 9 am at the corner of Duncan and Castro. For the full calendar of CNPS spring field trips, go to www.cnps-yerbabuena.org.
For more information about natural areas conservation, Duncan-Castro and stewardship of our critically endangered locally rare plant populations, contact Jake Sigg at 731-3028. Jake has been working for years to save every last locally rare plant in the city, and he/we really need your help. Other trips this spring will be to Candlestick Point, San Bruno Mountain, and the Baker Beach Bluffs.
Participate in Planning for the Heart of the Presidio
The Presidio Trust has released for public comment draft documents that describe the preferred alternative for revitalizing the Main Post as the park's cultural and civic center. The proposal includes a center for Presidio heritage and archaeology, Don Fischer's museum of contemporary art, and a park lodge.
The Trust is hosting open houses at the Main Post Information Center where staff will be on hand to answer questions about the plan and the process. For more info click here.
There are also two remaining public comment meetings, including the public Presidio Trust Board meeting TONIGHT. For more info and to read the documents click here.
Advocate for Nature Conservation
Nature in the City has been following the progress of the Urban Environmental Accords since World Environment Day, 2005 in San Francisco. We recently gave testimony at the Policy Committee of the Commission on the Environment about the Accords, and encourage people to attend the full Commission meeting to learn about Accords 8 and 21, both of which have a relationship to nature conservation in the city.
April 13 @ 5 pm
City Hall, Room 421
Click here for more information.
Restore Sharp Park
You can do your part to help save the GGNRA’s endangered species by weighing in on Sharp Park Golf Course’s future. The golf course is unprofitable and has been killing San Francisco garter snakes and California red-legged frogs. The best idea for this property is to transfer it to the GGNRA and to integrate it into the restoration work being done at the adjacent Mori Point.
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors will soon vote on restoration planning at Sharp Park. Click here to send a message to your public officials in support of this historic legislation.
For more information check out RestoreSharpPark.org!
Earth Day at Candlestick Point!
Literacy for Environmental Justice
April 25Workday 9-12:30
Celebration 12:30 -2:00
Map and Directions
Come one, come all for a day of restoration and celebration of California's first urban State Park, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. We will be planting hundreds of native plants, caring for thousands more, and building brush piles for the park's wildlife.
Dress in layers, wear closed toe shoes, bring gloves and a shovel if you have them.
Afterwards we will be hosting a healthy barbeque, offering bird walks and other activities.
We are also looking for some dedicated volunteers who can lead restoration activities such as planting, weeding and building brush piles. If you can help out, please contact Patrick.
Is San Francisco Shovel Ready for Freeway Project??
SF Streets Blog
"Five decades after activists killed plans for a major freeway traveling through San Francisco’s Panhandle, construction companies are lining up for the contract to break ground in August on another major freeway through a park – the Presidio Parkway, which will replace Doyle Drive in the Presidio National Park.
Plans to improve or replace the state-owned road have been in the works since at least the early 1990s. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) is managing the project. It received approval of its Environmental Impact Report in December 2008, but some issues – and a few detractors – still remain."
Read the full article (including Peter's quote at the end of the piece) here.Notwithstanding our ongoing advocacy for more Crissy Field wetland restoration in association with Doyle Drive, Nature in the City is supportive of the Presidio Parkway alternative in collaboration with other organizational members of the Presidio Environmental Council.
The Synthetic Debate
SF Supe Ross Mirkarimi would like to know how you feel, regarding San Francisco replacing over 20 acres of grass lawn parks with impermeable, synthetic tire waste.
Do you feel Supervisor Mirkarimi should enact the Precautionary Principle and request SF Rec & Park to postpone plans for the removal of 3 acres of grass at Kimbell playfield?
Please take the time and let Supervisor Mirkarimi know how you feel about this issue. You can use this sample mail template. Send your correspondence to:
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi / District 5
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place , Room 244
San Francisco , Ca 94102-4689
(415) 554-7630 - voice
(415) 554-7634 - fax
email
Historical Ecologists Map a Changing Landscape
SFGate
"This is how Robin Grossinger, a scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, does field work: He drives around town with a stack of 150-year-old sepia-toned photos from local history books, looking for any landmark - a creek, a 200-year-old oak tree - that might be a match. When he finds one, he swerves his car to the side of the road, races through mud when it's muddy and rain when it's rainy and parking lots when it's necessary to document the evidence with a digital camera, and then races back to the car to drive off before someone starts to wonder what he's doing photographing their strip mall."
A Charity Revolt?
BeyondChron
"According to the Wall Street Journal, “from the Ivy League to the United Jewish Appeal, petitions and manifestos are in the works” to oppose Obama’s charitable deduction reform. Many of the charities opposing the reform are based in New York City, whose Congressmember Charles Rangel heads the House Ways and Means Committee and whose Senator Chuck Schumer is influential on tax issues...
Not surprisingly, business interests have been shouting the loudest about the potential harm to nonprofits from Obama’s plan.
In the March 12 Business Week's Sandy Weill has a piece titled, 'Obama's Tax Plan Will Hurt Nonprofits.' Is Weill someone who has spent his career fighting in the trenches for the public good? Not quite... Weill has given tens of millions of dollars to favored hospitals and other charities, and he speaks reverently of the importance of philanthropy. But what people like Weill most love about charitable deductions it that it gives them, rather than society as a whole through its democratically elected public officials, the power to decide how their tax dollars should be spent."